Dark Dreams
by Lithium Nightshade
Summary: Somehow dreams become more real than the waking world. People and places fade out and disappear with amoments notice. You hate admitting your nightmares scare you so. But these dark dreams have a calling of destiny to them, your destiny.
1. Awake the Sleeper 1:0

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, but you already knew that_

_Dark Dreams_

_A Kingdom Hearts fiction_

_By Nebula Productions_

_AU_

_Prologue: Awake the Sleeper_

* * *

Once I had a dream  
And this is it

Once there was a childs dream  
One night the clock struck twelve  
The window open wide  
Once there was a childs heart  
The age I learned to fly  
And took a step outside

* * *

_Maybe it was all a dream…_

_Or a delusion._

_It didn't matter anymore,_

_That dream was the realest thing that had happened to Sora in years._

* * *

_He was standing on a cobblestone street late at night. _

_The lampposts were slightly flickering, casting ominous shadows. _

_As he stood their looking around he saw something moving. _

_He looked around trying to find the source for a few seconds before figuring it out. _

_It was the shadows. _

_Small black creatures with antennae and glowing yellow eyes were appearing from the shadows, slowly creeping towards him._

_He could almost hear them mumbling. _

_'Heart... heart we will feast tonight, our master will be happy. We feast tonight…' _

_As the creatures inched closer and closer to him he felt a slow but steady echo from his chest… _

_No his heart. _

_Slowly he stuck out his arm feeling a surge of an indescribable something moving through his arm. _

_A giant key formed, silver crown like teeth at the top, a yellow guard surrounding the handle and a chain with an odd three circle piece at the end. _

_As the creatures suddenly swarmed him he began cutting and slashing with the weapon to get them off him, away from him…_

* * *

And that's all you get for now! Review if you think this sounds interesting! 


	2. Shadows of 'Maybe' 1:1

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, not the songs mentioned in here the characters or anything. I do however own the plot steal it and I shall be very cross.

_Yes I did repeat the dream that was in the prologue but it was necessary. There may be a few mistakes and it's likely that the characters will be OOC, it is an AU_

* * *

_Dark Dreams_

_Chapter One: Shadows of 'Maybe'_

_Chapter theme song:_

_Lithium_

* * *

_Lithium, don't want to lock me up inside.  
Lithium, don't want to forget how it feels without...  
Lithium, I want to stay in love with my sorrow.  
Oh, but God, I want to let it go._

* * *

_Maybe it was all a dream…_

_Or a delusion._

_It didn't matter anymore,_

_That dream was the realest thing that had happened to Sora in years._

* * *

_He was standing on a cobblestone street late at night. _

_The lampposts were slightly flickering, casting ominous shadows. _

_As he stood their looking around he saw something moving. _

_He looked around trying to find the source for a few seconds before figuring it out. _

_It was the shadows. _

_Small black creatures with antennae and glowing yellow eyes were appearing from the shadows, slowly creeping towards him. _

_He could almost hear them mumbling. _

_'Heart... heart we will feast tonight, our master will be happy. We feast tonight…' _

_as the creatures inched closer and closer to him he felt a slow but steady echo from his chest… _

_No his heart. _

_Slowly he stuck out his arm feeling a surge of an indescribable something moving through his arm. _

_A giant key formed, silver crown like teeth at the top, a yellow guard surrounding the handle and a chain with an odd three circle piece at the end. _

_As the creatures suddenly swarmed him he began cutting and slashing with the weapon to get them off him, away from him…_

* * *

"GET OFF OF ME!" Sora yelled shooting up from his bed, cold sweat drenching his forehead and back. He looked around the room wildly before calming and sighing. "I need a shower" he murmured getting out of his bed and heading to the shower. As he walked into the bathroom he blearily looked into the mirror. His spiky cinnamon hair was in disarray and his sky blue eyes were still clouded from sleep. He shook his head then pulled open the shower curtain and got in. 

Sora's hand reached for the faucet and turned the shower on, raising his face to meet the hot, pounding spray. After shampooing his hair and washing it all out, Sora turned off the shower reaching out to the towel rack to grab one. Wrapping one around his waist, Sora shook out his hair tiny water droplets flying everywhere. Opening the bathroom door and looking both ways to make sure no one was in the hallway Sora quickly ran back to his room to get dressed.

He pulled on a pair of black cargo shots with a matching black shirt with a chain necklace with a crown on it and a black lined with white jean jacket. A multitude of yellow and chain belts decorated his pants while a black wrist band and fingerless gloves adorned his hands and wrist. A knock was heard from the door as Sora yanked on his bright yellow shoes. Sora quickly stood up to open the door, revealing the person behind the door to be his twin Roxas. Roxas had styled his dark blonde hair towards one side and was wearing a white shirt with black stitches and red lining. He also wore a pair of white cargo pants, black and white checkered armbands and a multitude of black and white rings. On his feet were a pair of black converse shoes

"You woke up early" Roxas commented to Sora "Nightmare" Sora replied walking out in to the hallway with him. "Mom went off to work so we're on our own for breakfast. Thank god it's Saturday, there isn't anything much to make in the house. I asked mom to pick up pop tarts, toaster strudel, and cereal on her way home from the office." Roxas said as the two walked up the stairs and into the bright airy kitchen. "She has to work on Saturday? That sucks" Sora frowned heading over to the refrigerator to find something to eat. "Nah, her new boss had to go into the building today and requested she come in to help him out. She's got a normal Monday to Friday schedule" Roxas told him.

"So are we taking the bus to school or is mom calling up that cousin of ours who lives around here. You know I don't think we ever met him, what was his name again?" Sora questioned pulling out the waffle box. It was banana flavored, which was Sora's favorite. "Oi get the chocolate chip ones out for me? Mom refuses to buy the double chocolate ones" Roxas asked from the kitchen counter where he was sitting with a glass of chocolate milk. "Here" Sora replied tossing his brother the other box of waffles. "Thanks" Roxas mumbled, his voice muffled by the napkin he had picked up to get rid of his milk mustache "Your welcome o chocoholic brother of mine!" Sora laughed popping the waffles in the toaster

"So new school on Monday, joy bliss. What's this place called anyway?" Roxas mumbled as he glared at the toaster which was in use still. "It won't be that bad Roxas, the school is named Oblivion High, home of the Dusks" Sora replied, bouncing back and forth on the balls of his feet "Oblivion High? Oh how encouraging!' Roxas said sarcastically. "Oh don't be so negative Roxas! As I said earlier, it can't be that bad." Sora grinned in his optimistic way. "You said Jacob Nicholson couldn't be all that bad. He shoved you in a trashcan when you we were ten" "Well yeah, but I hear his anger management classes are going great now" Sora replied his grin faltering for a minute.

"Oh and mom said our cousin, Cloud is picking us up for school. His university is only a couple of blocks down the road. Hollow Bastion University, I think the name of the place is." Roxas said, answering his twin's earlier question. "Cloud… why do I feel like I know that name from somewhere?" Sora quietly muttered under his breath, to low for Roxas to hear him. Sora quickly grabbed his waffles from the toaster, placed them on his plate and buttered them, moving away from the counter to give his twin access to the toaster. Sora reached up into the pantry, grabbing the syrup and drenching his waffles in it. "You may not be a chocoholic like me Sora, but you've certainly got a sweet tooth!" Roxas laughed looking at his twin's breakfast. "Meh" Sora shrugged digging into his food "Your no better"

* * *

Across the street two sisters sat, one with pale blonde hair and the other with strawberry red hair. The blonde was wearing a white dress and soft white knee highs, the red head wearing a pink corset style top and a black skirt with pink knee highs. Both girls had bright blue eyes. Next to the blonde was a sketchbook with a bag full of art supplies next to it. The red head had a bag with a ballet uniform in it. 

"New people next door? Why didn't mom and dad tell us Kairi?" the blonde asked her sister "We did get in late last night from lessons, and I remember being pretty tired. They might've told us, but we don't remember it Namine" The red head now identified as Kairi told Namine "I wonder if the have kids our age." "Well we could go over and see or we could wait until Monday and find out. Either way works." "We could make the cheerleaders jealous with the gossip. Paine's been itching to get a one up for the color guard for ages." Namine grinned thinking of the captain of the color guard and her ruthless competition with the cheerleaders.

"Hasn't she mellowed out since her and Rikku had that talk the other week?" Kairi asked, tilting her head to the side "Yeah, doesn't mean she still isn't totally psycho about showing up Kayla, Nikki and those girls. Doesn't help that Tifa is so into it. She's supposed to be the team's sponsor and yet she doesn't act any older than the rest of them!" Namine laughed "Doesn't Yuna try to discourage them a little? Her older sister Aerith has a good reputation as a peacekeeper and Yuna sorta carries it on." "Demyx says he and his band got a gig playing at that cute café and the school dance. Oh and well Rikku sort of got her into it. She isn't as in to it as the other girls but… well she isn't trying to stop them." Kairi explained

"I'm calling Axel to see if any of the guys have heard this tidbit, him and Riku know just about everyone around here so he might know something about them." Namine grinned bouncing over to the phone. "Ooh if Riku's over there tell him I said hi" Kairi grinned still watching the street. After a while Kairi shot up from her slouched position, blinking. '_The street it dissolved into little pieces and started floating away… Like back then.'_ The red-head thought remembering back when she was about three or four when occasionally the background and some of the people around her would dissolve in to dust like fragments and float away. First time it happened to her was in preschool, when the two girls she was coloring with seemed to disappear she panicked and started screaming. She saw psychologist after the first couple of times it happened to her.

Namine confided in her that sometimes the world would start running like watercolor paint in the rain, but Namine being the calmer one had never said anything about it. She admitted that it still happened sometimes too. Kairi shook her head, stood up and walked over to her backpack. "I'm going to do my homework Nami; I need to get those science questions done if we want to do anything else today." Kairi told her sister who was chatting away on the phone. Namine waved her hand in acknowledgement as Kairi pulled out her science textbook and her scribbler. _What is carrying capacity…? __'Carrying capacity is the maximum population an ecosystem can hold… Next question…'_ Kairi quickly wrote down the answer, occasionally flipping through her textbook to find an answer.

"So Axel, you admit that neither you, Riku, anyone no anything about this new family except that 'surprise' they just moved here from Rhode Island." Namine said disbelieving. Muffled words were heard from the phone "Ooh so Kelsey decides she wants to play that game then? Correct her please; I'm not Ice Bitch, I'm the princess of the 'Nobodies'!" Namine snarled reciting the nickname she had gotten in seventh grade. A group of twelve plus her had formed during middle school. All of the members had gotten codenames. Naminé's was the Nobody Princess because she was one of only two girls in the group and Larxene vetoed the name being applied to her.

The one she took was the 'Savage Nymph' which all of her ex-boyfriends (Namine had counted 15 at last group meeting) nodded fearfully at the accuracy. Naminé's best friend Axel Harada 'Flurry of Dancing Flames' was another show of how apt the codenames were. Legally Axel not allowed by the school board to take chemistry because of the time he brought a lighter to class and set his partner mildly on fire. Oddly enough this incident, among others was laughed at hardily by all of the members. One of things the group had in common, although they never talked about it much was the fade outs. Axel once told her if something burned that meant it was real. She understood that, the need to make sure that what was in front of him, the things that disappeared were actually real.

* * *

Meanwhile two blocks away a tall teenaged red-head was on his portable phone half-way between talking to his friend Namine on the phone and listening to the information Riku was feeding him. Surprisingly, although the two were males they ran the largest gossip/information ring at their school. It was frustrating Axel that all they could get was that it was a single working mother and her two twin boys. He couldn't even find the kids age and Riku was conferencing with Zexion who was one of the best hackers on the net 

"SHIT! You're sure that's the security system that they have Zexion?" Riku swore suddenly into his the walkie talkie. "Tell the girls they'll have to go over to get any questions answered. That family has a Highwind security system. Looks like Cloud, Leon, or Cid himself did the job too." Riku informed the red-head. "You girls are on your own. Cid'll sue us if Zexion busts open his system again. Leon's work with the mainframe is too tight to do a stealth job." Axel sighed, an audible groan coming from the phone. "Yes Zexion is sure that the system is Leon's work. Now as soon as Kairi's done her homework, go talk to those boys!" Axel snapped, putting the phone back in its cradle.

"Did you just snap at Namine? As in 'if someone looks at her the wrong way, I'll light their ass on fire' Namine?" Riku asked, slightly shocked. "My allowance got cut off after I burnt mother's drapes. I needed this week's allowance so I could buy those chakram. They don't burn, they hold the fire. I've been saving for them for six months and I can't tell mother what I need the money for. There is no way she'll give me my allowance ever again if I'm going to use it to buy something to support my pyromaniac tendencies." Axel calmly stated, flopping down on the couch next to Riku. "So… bad day? You do know your going to have to apologize to her or she's gonna get the 'Princesses' to do puppy dog eyes on you" Riku told him flatly, shuddering at the idea of Kairi and her friends doing a combo puppy dog eyes on his friend. "Yeah, just we need this information. God who knows we might have a new member... Or victims." Axel shrugged nonchalantly.

"Your sick of it aren't you? Wondering why everyone except the rest of the Nobodies, me, the Princesses, the color guard, Cid and the HBU crew and a few others fades out. 32 people out of 3500 that occupy our campus and HBU's. Our parents fade out for god's sake. Not to mention the nightmares…" Riku trailed off slapping his hand over his mouth, realizing he had said more then he wanted to. "You're having those nightmares again and you admit people are fading out again. Yes Riku I am a bit sick of this half-existance. You, Kairi and the princesses we're able to convince yourselves that it wasn't real and they stopped. We're having a group meeting as soon as I can get everyone together. And I mean everyone, Larxene accidentally gave her boyfriend a sprained hip and he's in the hospital. Marluxia according to his mother spent five days in his greenhouse, which is why he didn't come to school and she couldn't convince him to use his hair dye so it doesn't look pink." Axel told Riku eyebrows raised.

Things were getting worse. Larxene's forays were getting bad and Marluxia was putting in less of an effort to abide by his parents standard of normal. He had to check with the others to make sure that he wasn't imagining the fact that everyone's little 'quirks' were becoming more pronounced and they were even starting to care less about what the rest of the world thought of them. Among each other that was fine but in the real world some of the crueler bullies would gang up on the girls and Demyx who wasn't on a single sports team and played music. The girls were sometimes avoided because they could kick ass and the guys got bullied to but defended themselves but Demyx hated fighting and bullies like Seth and his gang from the football team liked using him for a punching bag if they could corner him.

Zexion did seem like a quiet, loner geek but if someone hurt Demyx he'd rip them apart. Frankly, Axel thought most of the gang would help; Demyx could defend himself the musician was just a pacifist and for all of his bubbly nature around them, was quite shy. Luxord's gambling addiction was getting a bit ridiculous as was the fact that Cloud's mood swings were getting worse. If something wasn't planned they would all be in trouble. Axel twitched for a second and pulled out his lighter, flicking it on and off staring into the flame. "Don't light anything on fire. Your mother's insurance stopped covering it after you killed the patio furniture. I'm going to go practice…" Riku muttered quietly standing up and heading for the door. "See ya…" Axel waved half-heartedly at the retreating boy.

_'__Sometimes problems are too great to be ignored, many people say. What they don't know is that some are so huge that without even meaning too you ignore them because denial is better than acceptance.'_

* * *

"Zexion, what'cha doing?" The bubbly blue-green eyed boy asked "Closing up the hacking files I was running, if I do it wrong we'll all get caught and me, Axel, and Riku… probably Luxord too because we've been covering up his gambling debts, will be taken away to jail for awhile, Demyx" the slate-haired boy answered "I don't want you go to jail!" Demyx whined hugging Zexion around the shoulders. "I know so please let me take care of these files and I'll listen to you play your sitar for a couple of hours. But I think Axel might call later. Things have been off with everyone lately, he's going to call a meeting I just know it" Zexion gave a tiny smile to the blond teen who beamed at him, before sighing and giving in to a more melancholy look. 

"Marluxia wouldn't even talk to me yesterday when I went into his green house. The only person he even showed a reaction too was Larxene and that's because she shocked him, literally. Her last boyfriend broke up with her because he couldn't keep up with her. Axel's temper has gotten worse and your talking a lot less and reading a lot more. And that's just in the past week and only the people I've been around. This is getting bad… Did you say for a couple of hours? You mean it Zexion?" Demyx grinned hyperly; realizing what the other male had said "Yes" Zexion nodded his eyes meeting Demyx's to indicate his seriousness before quickly getting back to working on the files.

Demyx bounced out of the room picking up his blue and white sitar and heading for Zexion's basement which not only had Zexion's more advanced and powerful computers but a room with a bunch of music stuff that Demyx had put down their so he could use it when he came over. Which was everyday until his stepmother and father called him and made him go home. Zexion's mother had a bed set up for Demyx for when he slept over which was every time he could get permission or his parents weren't around. The two boys had known each other since they were little. When some of the local bullies tried picking on Zexion because of how much he read, Demyx did his best to stand up for the boy.

After Demyx got a black eye Zexion beat the crap out the older, twice his weight bully Seth. To this day the football player has loathed the pair and wants revenge to this day and whenever he goes for it by trying to hurt Demyx, it always fails due to him getting the crap kicked out of him by Zexion and others. After Zexion closed up all the files he went down to the basement. As the slate-haired male entered the room, Demyx had already set up his equipment as well as the synthesizer that did the rest of the music besides his sitar and voice.

"First song up, Breaking the Habit!" Demyx grinned bouncing back and forth next to the mike, nodding at Zexion to tell him to start up the music.

"_Memories consume, _

_Like opening the wound, _

_I'm picking me apart again, _

_You all assume, _

_I'm safe here in my room, _

_Unless I try to start again, _

_I don't want to be the one, _

_The battles always choose _

_'Cause inside I realize, _

_That I'm the one confused, _

_I don't know what's worth fighting for, _

_Or why I have to scream, _

_I don't know why I instigate, _

_And say what I don't mean, _

_I don't know how I got this way, _

_I know it's not alright, _

_So I'm breaking the habit, _

_I'm breaking the habit , _

_Tonight. _

_Clutching my cure I tightly lock the door _

_I try to catch my breath again _

_I hurt much more _

_Than anytime before _

_I had no options left again _

_I dont want to be the one _

_The battles always choose _

_'Cause inside I realize _

_That I'm the one confused. _

_I don't know what's worth fighting for _

_Or why I have to scream, _

_I don't know why I instigate _

_And say what I don't mean _

_I don't know how I got this way _

_I'll never be alright _

_So, I'm breaking the habit, _

_I'm breaking the habit _

_Tonight _

_I'll paint it on the walls _

_'Cause I'm the one at fault _

_I'll never fight again _

_And this is how it ends… _

_I don't know what's worth fighting for _

_Or why I have to scream _

_But now I have some clarity to show you what I mean. _

_I don't know how I got this way, _

_I'll never be alright._

_So, I'm breaking the habit, _

_I'm breaking the habit, _

_I'm breaking the habit, _

_Tonight." _

Demyx's voice trailed of at the end as the music slowly softened in the background, the sitar rifts still lingering in the air. "That was amazing Dem, you really want to form a band don't you? You've been bugging Axel, Riku, and me for awhile about it. Plus you've worked out the music and everything. I bet you even have a name all worked out." Zexion half smirked half smiled at the blond, who blushed "The World That Never Was…" he mumbled "Figured it sounded good considering our hang out is called 'Castle Oblivion'" Demyx shrugged mentioning the abandoned mansion the group had fixed up a bit on the edge of town.

The place was still dusty and some of the rooms were off limits due to the fact that they were so cluttered they couldn't get in to clean, but it suited them. They even cleaned up a few bedrooms just incase they needed to get away. Oddly the place was practically on another plain of reality in that it seemed to exist to them. Larxene pretty much lived their and Marluxia had his garden in the greenhouse. They used the ballroom for sparring and Zexion was working on getting his computer system transferred to the library with his book collection. There were sound-proofed rooms in the basement that Demyx was slowly turning to a recording studio. Namine had her art studio and Kairi was bolting mirrors and a barre into one of the larger bedrooms so she would have a room to do ballet in. Luxord had found a huge poker table he was in the process of reassembling in the basement and Larxene had found a room to use for target practice. She never took any of her boyfriends to her house or the mansion because she hated having her foster parents ask questions.

"It sounds wonderful Dem…" Zexion smiled affectionately at the blond, who blushed again. Demyx gaze hit the clock. "Laura wants me home at six so we better get going so I can show you what I've got lined up!" The blond grinned at the stoic slate-haired boy "I have all day Dem… Start whenever you ready" Zexion replied, lounging against the computer chair that he had pulled into the room.

* * *

Roxas shook his head at his brothers antics, the other boy had climbed up on top of the refrigerator just to prove that it was possible to get the box of candy and chocolate their mother had stored up their. Both of the two boys were too short to reach it from the ground and it was too far back for them to jump and get it. So Sora had climbed on to the counter top, jumped up, grabbed hold to the edge and pulled himself up. He opened the door revealing two girls, one with red hair, the other with blond. 

"Hi! We're your new neighbours. We just wanted to say hi." The red-head smiled "Hi, my name is Roxas Hikari, my twin Sora is in the kitchen. What are your names ladies?" Roxas grinned then winced as a bang came from the kitchen "What was that? By the way my name is Namine and this is my sister Kairi." The blonde replied, peering into the house. "That was Sora getting down from the top of the fridge. Come inside, I'll introduce you and get you two a drink" Roxas shook his head, moving aside to let the two girls in. The group entered the kitchen where Sora was on the floor, back against the fridge. "I'm alright, just sittin." Sora grinned at the group, the girls giving him worried looks.

"You think you should have climbed up on the fridge? What were you doing it for anyway?" Kairi asked, offering the brunette a hand up. "For this!' Sora laughed, holding out the bowl of candy and chocolate. Roxas's hand shot to the bowl grabbing the large dairy milk bar. "May we have one Sora?" Namine asked staring longingly at a pack of mentos '_sugar…'_ "Course, you two are guests. It's only polite." Sora offered the bowl to the two of them, Kairi grabbing the back of sour cherry blasters and Namine getting the mentos she had her eyes on. The girls happily chewed on their candy, Roxas nibbling at the chocolate bar he had grabbed. Sora blowing bubbles with his gum.

"So you girls go to Oblivion High? That's the school our mom signed us up for." Sora asked after cracking his gum. The two girls nodded "You coming on the bus? We'll show you to the bus stop" Kairi grinned "Mom asked our cousin Cloud to drive us for the first day. If he doesn't mind you two can get a drive with us…" Roxas told the girls, who at the mention of their cousin, eyes widened. "Your Cloud Strife's cousin? As in the Cloud who runs the mixed weapons/martial arts club at school, does some of the best work at Highwind Security, and is majoring in business at HBU?" Namine gaped at the two twins, just now noticing there similarity to the stoic university student.

"Cloud does all that? We think we met him at a family reunion when we were little but we never knew much about him. Thanks for the info" Roxas grinned at Namine who blushed, embarrassed for blurting out all of that. "We'll introduce you to our friends later; I'll call Axel and Riku up to see if they can come over if that's okay with you boys?" Kairi asked, holding up her cell phone "Sure the more the merrier!" Sora laughed, putting the bowl back on top of the fridge. Kairi dialed up her friends' number quickly, placing the black Razr to her ear.

"Axel? I'm at the Hikari's house. Is Riku still there because they say you two can come over?" Kairi asked the person of the other end of the phone. "Riku went home? Well you can come over can't you Axel? Alright see you in a bit" Kairi pushed the end button and grinned at the group. "Axel's coming over. Don't wanna alarm you or anything but your smoke detectors are in good shape right?" the red-head asked. "Umm yah… Why do you ask?" Sora tilted his head to the side.

"You'll see…" Kairi laughed, along with Namine who politely put her hand over her mouth. The two of them separated, Sora offering the two girls a tour of the house, Kairi accepting the offer and Namine declining to go into the living room with Roxas. "So what are your friends like?" the blond boy asked "Axel's like my best friend/ older brother. I've known him since I was little. Riku and Kairi hung out a lot too when they were little, same goes now. I think you and Axel will get along. Don't ask me why, just a feeling I have." Namine grinned, bringing her hands together happily. "Sounds like a nice guy…" Roxas murmured, crossing his arms.

* * *

"I told you I was sorry. Didn't realize I was going so hard." The blonde apologized to the male in the hospital bed. "Larxene, you sprained my pelvis because you tied me down as a form of kinky sex. The doctor said I was lucky that I didn't break my spine arching like that. Your good, I admit that hell everyone admits it. You're just too kinky for guys who don't like pain. You only started coming when I screamed in pain. Yes you are sorry about hurting me as bad as you did but you can't deny that it turned you on." The male told Larxene who was playing with the two antennae like ponytails that hung around her face. The bases of them were dyed purple. 

"I didn't mean to hurt you this bad." She frowned angrily "I know, and if you had just kicked my shin or bit me like some of the other times everything would have been fine… But Larxene I can't, your getting worse you didn't even realize how much you had hurt untill the next morning when I couldn't move. I don't think we should… see each other anymore" the male gave an apologetic look to her, her frown deepening angrily. "Fine, but you might want to send your damn brother to get me my stuff. I don't want to ever see you again and if I do, I'll shock you!" Larxene snarled, angry at the male for leaving her. She had been really nice to this one too. Sure his pelvis was sprained, but Josh's wrist got broken because he pulled at the scarves to hard and he stayed with her for months afterwards. He only broke up with her, because in the end he couldn't keep up.

She slung on her long black trench coat, her pace speeding up as she headed towards the mansion. As she walked up the path to the front door her angry expression started to crumble. "God damn him" She whispered closing the door behind her. "He faded, just like everyone else. Disappeared until I heard him scream and now he _left _me!" Larxene started cursing up a storm wiping away a few stray tears heading towards the phone in the front hall. Picking it up she dialed Marluxia's cell number.

As she listened to the rings she noticed that they were echoing. Removing the phone from her ear she noticed that she could still hear the ringing. Hanging up the phone she gave a sad smile to herself. Marluxia had come to his greenhouse at Castle Oblivion. That was good talking face to face was so much better. Stomping up the stairs to Marluxia's wing, her combat boots making large clunking noises the blonde woman took out a small mirror when she reached the top of the stairs, checking to make sure she didn't look like she had been crying or that tears had even trailed down her face. She smirked at her reflection, perfect. She continued down the long white hallway, head for the heavy wooden door that led to the greenhouse.

"Oh Marly!" she sang opening the door. The only occupant of the room was tending a carefully kept rose bush, his dusty rose hair swaying in the almost non existent breeze. Larxene looked at the tips of her friend's hair, the blonde dye that Marluxia mother had him wear almost religiously had all but grown out. She knew the only reason it wasn't gone was because Marluxia was too caught in his garden to go get it cut and didn't trust the gardening shears to do a proper job. "When did you get here?" she asked him "Don't really remember. I remember walking here at least a day ago but I don't know how much time has passed." Marluxia replied, pruning his rose bush.

"Daniel left me. He was a bit upset about the sprained pelvis." Larxene said showing no indication of her earlier upset. "He vanished on you while you were having sex? That's usually why most of them get injured. Pain is life and all that jazz." Marluxia replied in a monotone voice. "Yeah, just needed someone to tell. Axey would get all worked up if he knew that the vanishing people were getting worse." Larxene stuck her tongue out "I don't need no fuss"

"I know that, Axel just worries, keeps him distracted from his own problems, like the time he got so into the matches that he accidentally set the neighbours cat on fire. Mind you I think some of the accidents are sub-consciously becoming on purpose. I talked to Zexion about it; he says it's his pyromaniac tendencies getting worse even though he's trying to ignore them." Marluxia shrugged "I don't think I'll be going home for a while, Lark. Mother flipped out when I refused to use the dye and father will be getting back from his business trip soon. It's bad enough to them that I refuse to cut my hair short. Hiding my 'genetic anomaly' was something that they insisted on me hiding it. They are not going to be happy, but I refuse to dye it again. Why should I? Zexion's hair is basically periwinkle and Saix's is blue and he has pointed ears. Why should I hide it? It's not like I don't like the color. Hell it's my favorite" Marluxia snarled, his hand gentleness on the roses deceiving considering the anger in his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm not in the mood to go home either. Somebody will probably show up around here soon too. Superior's coming back in town. Saix's been hyper. Well hyper for Saix. He can't wait to see him again. We might want to clear the lower floors. You know how those two are…" Larxene trailed off remembering how long the two had disappeared before Xenmas; the Superior had gone of to university out of town. "Please don't bring that up. They traumatized Demyx. He walked in on them." Marluxia shuddered, and then hid a grin. The look on the sitarist's face had been priceless even though admitting it was cruel to the kid; he had only been fourteen and had lived a sheltered life when it came to things like sex. "Yeah but the pictures of his face afterward were hilarious!" Larxene cackled. Marluxia sighed; Larxene was just like that… Laughing at other people's trauma.

* * *

"I'll get it!" Sora laughed running for the door, racing his twin for who would open it. Roxas and Sora got to the door at the same time and proceeded to push each other away from the doorknob so they could open it. Roxas won, pulling open the front door. "Hey, you two are the Hikari twins?" Axel grinned at Roxas, his eyes flickering to a grinning Sora behind him "Yeah, you must be Axel" Roxas replied, looking up to meet the red-head's eyes. "Well aren't you just spunky" Axel laughed, ruffling Roxas's hair. The blond's face heated up with a faint blush, before he glared at the red-head, his lips in his trademark pout. 

Axel laughed "So can I come in?" "Course!" Sora grinned "The girls are in the living room. The twins moved to the side to let the taller red-head in, Roxas's blush already fading from his face. "So the girls have been nice to you two right? No spontaneous attempts to get you to do something silly?" Axel grinned wickedly at the twins, before they entered the living room. "No Sora does that by himself. He was on top of the refrigerator when they got here" Roxas stated straight-faced, before cracking up, quickly followed up by Axel "Dude, why was he on top of the fridge?" Axel wheezed trying to get control of his laughter. "To get the candy bowl that our mom put on top of the fridge." Roxas replied, he already liked this guy god knows why. He just hit it off with him.

"Axel!" Namine squealed, hugging the redhead around the middle. She stepped back after a second and looked up at him. "Clean out your pockets I don't want you lighting anything in Roxas's house on fire. If you manage to do it without the Zippo I commend you and you are released from blame. Hand it over." Naminé stuck out her palm looking pointedly at Axel's pockets. "Fine, fine… Can't believe I'm doing this…." Axel muttered pulling out a black Zippo with flame designs along the side. "All of them" Naminé repeated, half-glaring at Axel who snarled and pulled out two more one with a skull and crossbones and the other with a designs Roxas had never seen before with a monogram on top of it. "That's better" Namine said primly before dissolving into giggles.

"Lemme guess, you're a pyro?" Roxas asked rising his eyebrow at the pouting red-head "Yeah, Namine doesn't want me accidentally setting something up since you're new. Demyx's stepmom doesn't let me in the house anymore. It's bad enough he floods the place" Axel shrugged "Axel you lit her cat on fire. Mind you it was by accident but I got the impression she really liked that cat" Naminé sighed "Mind you it did look hilarious with the singed tail." Naminé's face broke into a smile at the memory. After Roxas entered the living room Namine sighed, took one last look at the other blond then turned to Axel.

"He's solid. Completely solid. No fade outs, he even feels like he's real. Kairi said the same goes for Sora. Axel, the numbers are growing but it's all kids around our age. With the exception of Cid everyone who doesn't fade is under twenty-five and as our numbers grow it get's worse. Kairi woke up screaming two nights ago about shadows trying to eat her heart. Though I think these two might be it so maybe things will even out and go back to semi-normal" Naminé smiled, hope tingeing her gaze "Yeah, I'm calling a meeting at the mansion tomorrow. We'll have to tell those two about it, if they're solid that means that everything else fades on them too. Somehow I doubt that there were no-faders where they came from. If there were more, there would be more people here who didn't fade." Axel looked grim for a moment before smiling and walking in to the living room with Namine.

"Oh Naminé, Axel do you want anything to drink? I offered it to you and Kairi earlier Namine but with the candy and you calling Axel I forgot to get you anything" Roxas gave a smile at the blonde girl and red-headed male. "What do you want? We have coke, cream soda, orange juice, apple juice, herbal tea, chocolate milk… Mom went a bit nuts stacking the fridge with drinks last night. And yet she forgot to buy pop tarts…" The blond boy muttered staring at the ground, before looking up

"Coke for me, please" Axel told Roxas, slightly smirking "What no G.I.M from you Axel? And a please? You are on good behavior" Namine laughed "G.I.M?" Roxas asked, slightly confused "Got it memorized? Its Axel's catch phrase, he usually says it when he introduces himself and slips it into his conversations in bunches of different places. Though it has made a bad impression on some people. Like our teachers… But that's never stopped him before." Naminé smiled, crossing her legs and placing her hands on her knees. Roxas ducked his head, hiding his smile before looking up "You can say it if you want. It suits you, don't let me stop you" Axel smirked, his cat like green eyes perking up with an inner fire. "Thought I'd be polite. After all you are a cutie" Axel said in a half-teasing voice making Roxas blush.

"You'll make a good friend; I'll introduce you to everybody else on Monday. By the way Naminé you never told Roxie hear what you wanted to drink." Axel's smirk grew wider at Roxas's expression somewhere torn between anger and embarrassment turning his face bright red. "Don't call me Roxie" Roxas seethed before turning to Naminé "He's right though, you never said what you wanted to drink" "Cream soda please Roxas if it's not to much trouble" Namine smiled happily. After Roxas left the room Axel sat down in the large red lazy boy. "I like him; he's got spunk and a… inner fire to him. I like poking at him and your right he's solid." Axel gave Naminé the half-smirk half-smile that was practically his trademark "On Monday he's one of us. Got it memorized?" He smirked touching the side of his forehead the sparks practically radiating from his eyes highlighting the two black tattoos under his eyes.

* * *

Meanwhile Sora had challenged Kairi to a game of Soul Caliber 2 and the two were sitting in his room playing. "Riku's better at this game than I am" Kairi remarked as Sora scored another hit on her character "Really what's he like?" Sora asked rapidly hitting the buttons on his controller. "Riku's smart, get's some of the best grades at school, he's really good at sparring too, asides from the teachers we haven't found someone who can beat him yet. He's pretty popular with the girls but he doesn't date very much and it's never lasted very long. He's quiet, aloof, and a bit arrogant but he's a good friend. He and Axel are in charge of the underground information ring for the town. Which is kinda funny considering they're both guys. Though if you want to find anything about anyone they are the ones to go to." Kairi grinned hitting the x and triangle button in rapid succession trying to pull of a combo. 

"If they are so good why didn't you look me and Roxas up before coming here? Really I don't mind that much, from what you explained of the ranking system this information could have given the color guard a one up. It's kinda mean, using gossip to get a heads up but that's school and life for yah." Sora smiled at the girl "You're very forgiving Sora and very kind. I admit it's not the best system but this has been going on for years now, before we were ever in high school. It's just gotten worse because a lot of the people on opposing sides have known each other since they were little and most of these relationships weren't friendly ones. Paine would love to shove Kayla's face in the dirt. The two of them were never all that friendly and at the beginning of this year Kayla and her gang jumped all over Paine's best friend Rikku and verbally tore her to shreds. Paine's wanted revenge since. Thankfully Rikku calmed her down so Paine isn't actively trying to kill her." Kairi explained clicking the continue button

"If I ways any other person I would say that me and Nami were being polite by coming over. I'm not any other person; we came over because you have Highwind Security systems, the best security in town. Cid will sue us if Zexion breaks into his system again. The boys are not currently on good enough terms with their respective guardians to go through it so we backed off." Kairi shrugged "That's what mom asked cousin Cloud to do then. I only heard half the conversation." Sora cocked his head to one side thinking about the first night they were there.

"When exactly did you guys get here anyway? Me and Nami have been really busy for the past week and you guys don't have that much unpacked except for your game system and the furniture. The kitchen is stocked too but you said your mom is a bit compulsive about having food in the house." Kairi asked putting down her controller in favor of watching Sora beat the crap out of the CPU player. "We got her late Thursday night. We slept for most of Friday and mom went shopping. When I woke up I unpacked this" Sora said nodding at the TV and games system "And some basic necessities. Mom went to work this morning and you two girls got here at around ten. That answers your question well enough?" Sora grinned brightly at the girl who grinned back. "Yep, now lets see how far along you can get before you die!" Kairi practically cackled with excitement.

* * *

Riku stepped back from the practice dummy panting before straightening and grabbing a towel to wipe the sweat off his face. "I've been at this for two hours…" he muttered, sitting down on a bench to rest. "I think I'm done for now. I'll probably come back out here in a couple of hours so I should go inside and take a shower." The silver-haired boy decided standing up and taking the stairs on to the porch two at a time. He opened the back door and quickly slid over to his bedroom and the ensuite bathroom. After washing up he stepped out of the bathroom, towel wrapped around his waist and got into his usual outfit of dark blue pants, and a matching top. He dried his hair, running a brush through it a couple of times to make sure it was tidy before leaving the room to get a snack from the kitchens. 

He had to check his email and voicemail. They tended to pile up if he didn't do it regularly. Sitting down at the computer chair and logging in to his account Riku scanned through his email, saving the important ones he would need to reference later and deleting the spam and junk mail. He also got rid of the updates from his subscriptions after he read through them, not wanting them to clog up his files. He needed to call Kairi later; she always picked up good information from her groups. Somethings needed to be kept secret or released completely.

The town ran on the information and gossip that ran through it. Ever since he and Axel had set up the ring it had been this way. Money was the official currency but if you really wanted anything in this town you had to know things gossip, information, rumors… the more you knew the better off you were. Radiant Garden started off as a small town, a place where gossip thrived. Times may have changed and Radiant Garden may have gone from town to city but information was still its lifeblood. And with the set up him and the others had worked out it was lifeblood that they mainly controlled. It wasn't perfect yet, but they were getting closer. Most of the other groups were forced to putting the scraps together to get anything and the only juicy bits that they got came directly from the source and that was something they couldn't stop till everything was perfect.

It seemed obsessive compulsive and kind of silly but it never took anyone long to learn how the town ran and sometimes when everything else is spinning out of reach having control can be a blessing. Riku smiled to himself as he ate the bowl of Kraft Dinner. It was cheap and it was good. Also pretty much impossible to screw up. Out of everything Riku was not a cook. He would admit that. It didn't bother him much, he could put together simple meals and both Aerith and Demyx were excellent chefs. Riku's parents weren't around very often; they were busy with work so he was often on his own. He didn't mind though, who wants to be around people who you aren't even sure are real? So he either made himself something easy, got fast food/takeout or went over to someone's house or the mansion.

Riku looked over the information in the emails and sighed making notes in Word and saving them. He would have to start looking things up around nine if he wanted to get to be before midnight which meant he could only practice until about seven thirty after supper. He would have to show what he had already gathered to Axel on Sunday, otherwise it would get caught up with schoolwork. Also the adjustment in timing meant he'd be shoving all of his homework into Sunday or at least what was left of it. Friday had been an in-service day so he had gotten over half of it done then. Riku picked up his cell phone sighing to himself as he noticed a message from Kairi. The re: was about the Hikari boys.

She had probably been asking him to go see them with her and Naminé. Hopefully the blonde sister had the foresight to invite Axel as well. He knew that they would have been able to easily contact the red-head. Riku dialed in Kairi's cell number, tapping his finger on the computer desk as he listened to the dial tone. He smiled as the phone picked up "Hey Kairi, you called me? The message said it was something about the new kids in the neighborhood." He paused as she answered him

"Yeah I can wait a moment" he replied to her question. After a few moments she began to speak again, Riku leaning back in the computer chair before shooting forward after a few seconds. "You're serious?" Riku asked her his face ashen "Of course you wouldn't lie about something like this Kairi but… There are so few it's almost too good to be true. Axel's there? He and Namine will figure out if this might have any repercussions. I'll leave it to them to get out the information to the Organization that is their job. I'll tell everyone else. Yes Cloud will probably end telling the guys at Hollow Bastion University and Cid but the color guard and the princesses need the information just as much even if they don't use it in manipulation as often. We need this status… God knows what would happen to us if we didn't have the upper hand Kairi. I wish we didn't need this…. But we do and that's life. We have to survive, all of us. Once the HBU crew get's out of university we pool our resources and go on with the plan. Everything else… we'll figure it out from there. Till then we just have to keep ourselves afloat." Riku grimaced at the desperate plea in his best friend's voice. They knew that this manipulation was wrong, but what else could they do? Information was this town's lifeblood and the world that faded out would beat them down for being different if it could.

* * *

"Zexion why do they hate us?" Demyx asked out of the blue to his slate haired friend "Haven't you ever thought it was a little weird that the only people we depend on is each other? Even when we were little. When I got a scrape or a bruise, whenever I was happy or sad I didn't go to my parents like most kids that age would, I went to you or one of the others. And it never seemed odd. That I never talked to my parents and that they never paid that much attention to me. Every little thing in life we depended on each other for…." Demyx trailed, leaning his head on his friend's shoulder. He had stopped playing his sitar about an hour before so they could eat. They had finished lunch and collapsed on the couch for awhile before Demyx had spoken up. 

"I suppose it is a bit odd. Most friends don't count their allowance as what all of them have gotten in a week. Though the resource is a welcome one. Especially with the way Luxord gambles" Zexion gave a half smile to the mullet haired boy "It's not hate… they just don't understand. We're different from them even if they can't see it, it scares them deep down so they try to ignore us." He rationalized "Still I wonder what it would be like to actually talk to my parents like I've heard most kids do. Imagine your parents actually enforcing that 'grounding' thing. Whenever my stepmom or dad does that I sneak out to the mansion. They usually just get mad at me because I flooded the bathroom again. I don't mean to, it's just the water reflects the light so beautifully and it dances and there needs to be more water so I can see it better and I just forget to turn the tap off that's all." Demyx babbled than blushed, embarrassed that he had gone off on a tangent in front of his best friend. "Silly number nine, no need to be embarrassed. I know you love the water and of course it dances for you. Who wouldn't dance at the sound of your voice?" Zexion half whispered to the embarrassed boy, slightly ruffling his hair.

Demyx blushed redder at the gesture, Zexion hated touching people, he had never understood why the quiet bookworm had always allowed him so close but he had never questioned it due to the fact that he was very affectionate and didn't want to give Zexion a reason to stop letting him be so close. "Zexy, you're embarrassing me here I know I'm a pretty good singer but I'm not that good… It's just my imagination that makes the water appear to dance, it doesn't really." Demyx said quietly but in a slightly high-pitched voice. "Yes and the fire missing the lot of us entirely that time Axel's Zippo nearly burned my house down wasn't the fire bending to Axel's will but a lucky coincidence. Life is stranger than any of the faders give it credit. We just need time to figure out why. Once we do that and go to live in the mansion permanently we can figure out how to control it." Zexion told Demyx, looking the other boy in the eyes, his gaze serious.

"We aren't supposed to talk about that plan out loud!" Demyx whispered fiercely to him "I know, but you needed the reassurance that there is something beyond this." Zexion gestured to the living room "And you needed to hear it out loud. It's not like there's anyone here anyway. We're fine Demy" Zexion's eye twitched realising he had slipped into calling the other boy by his childhood nickname. "I like it when you call me that Zex. When we're alone can you call me that again? Back then everything was so simple. Depend on the older kids to keep everything normal and depend on you to keep me safe. After we got old enough to understand that this isn't normal… once we got involved with the older kids plan. It's so hard pretending we're just like them. Sometimes I wish they wouldn't try being civil to us. At least then when they fade then fade back it wouldn't hurt so much knowing they can't do anything for us." Demyx sighed turning away from the slightly older boy. Zexion patted him on the shoulder for a minute before relenting and giving him a hug, knowing that the affectionate boy needed it.

Zexion inhaled, Demyx's hair under his nose before he let go and stepped back thinking for minute before speaking "You changed your shampoo." He stated looking at the sitarist. "Yeah Laura refused to go buy me another bottle until she runs out of her shampoo so I'm stuck with it. And it's a big bottle." Demyx replied used to his friend's sensitive nose. Most people would think that this kind of knowledge was a bit intimate and odd but it was natural for the two boys. They had been best friends since forever and knew each other practically inside and out. Anyways with Zexion's sensitive nose, it was a bit unavoidable being able to recognize shampoo smells and such. Which was pretty much why he disliked being touched, close contact made scents even easier to smell and most people poured the stuff on; perfumes, cologne, body wash, shampoo, deodorant… the combinations were overpowering and irritated him.

But not Demyx for some reason. His friends he could stand being relatively close to but Demyx was the only one he had semi-constant voluntary contact with. "Do you wanna go swimming later?' Demyx asked his friend, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "The public pool will be crowded, so I'm assuming you want to go to the lake?" Zexion replied picking up a book he had been reading earlier called _Wizard's First Rule. _He was only on the fourth chapter but he was already pretty into it. "Uh huh!" Demyx grinned happily, grabbing his suit. This weekend was probably one of the last chances he would get to go swimming in the lake, so he wanted to enjoy it while he could. Zexion would most likely sit on the shore reading, he wasn't much of a swimmer. "You like the new book Zex?" Demyx asked tossing the towel over his shoulder as the two headed for the door. "I'm not very far in but yes I am enjoying it. The storyline so far is very well written." Zexion replied giving the blond a small smile after he turned away.

* * *

"So I hear some relatives of yours just moved in" the grey-eyed man stated to his blond haired companion. The two men were in a work lounge room, the brunet leaning against the wall and the blond sitting at table looking over what appeared to class work. "Yes Leon, wait how did you know that?" The blond looked at his companion sharply, blue eyes slightly confused. "They live across the street from Naminé and Kairi. After Riku found out the have Highwind security he called me to try to get details. The girls are visiting the twins as we speak." Leon said quietly walking over to the blond's table. 

"They only got here on Friday; it would give everyone a shock to have people show up that they know nothing about. The repercussions would have left the school roiling for long enough to give the two of them time to get their bearings. They're relatives I owe them some courtesy. If the girls are making friends with them it's even better. Nothing get's out without Riku and Axel's say so and if they get accepted anything sensitive gets absorbed. Plus they'll have someone to introduce them to the system." The blond nodded to himself "You never thought to tell me you had relatives? From the way Riku was talking you set them up with a pretty good security system as in a 'Zexion Meimei can't hack it without getting caught' system. The boys don't want to get sued by Cid, not with how much everyone has saved up. Anyways Cloud, Cid'll be calling us back on duty in a bout a half an hour, so you might want to get as much done as possible if you want to get some good sleep tonight." Leon murmured

"Yeah I know, I'm working a double shift tomorrow and Yuffie's been bugging me to take her to a club since I'm one of the few of us who has both license and car. She swears she didn't mean to get her license revoked again and that honestly she didn't notice how fast she was going or those three stoplights she ran." Cloud muttered the last part in a feminine voice, obviously imitating the mentioned girl "And with her shifts at the diner she can't afford public transportation on top of everything else." Leon sighed, understanding why his friend couldn't deny the black-haired, self proclaimed 'ninja' girl.

"Troublesome… I need to finish this essay. I've got half of it done and on my computer but it'll take me half the night to get the rest done" Cloud muttered letting his head hit the table. "I'll drive Yuffie tomorrow. I've got everything done for my classes and I was planning on going out anyway. You get a good sleep tonight after doing some more of it and finish it tomorrow followed by more good sleep. Can't have you falling in sleep in class. First of all you don't need the teacher bugging you about it since you're such a good student and as your roommate/co-worker Aerith would kill me if she thought you weren't taking proper care of yourself. Then she would go after you" Leon told the blond "You haven't been talking as much and it's worrying her."

"Yeah. I know. Don't mean too, Sorry." Cloud muttered looking at his work "I know you'll go on streaks of almost babbling like you used to in junior high then you almost clam up only in a monotone voice." "Hypocrite, you talk in monotone as well" Cloud replied, meeting Leon's storm-grey eyes with his own blue ones. "I give out full sentences though and I've always talked in monotone. You however, you've been closing yourself up recently. It's just a quirk I know but it worries us a little because with the way you clam up we would never know if you overworked yourself like that time in high school." Leon told the stubborn blond before walking back over to the counter to get his coffee. "Why won't you let that go?" Cloud sighed, turning away from his work. "You passed out because you hadn't slept in three days. You nearly gave Tifa a heart attack." Leon told the blond, raising an eyebrow at his annoyance.

"You think Cid will have a job for us when we get back in? He's extended service out three more miles this week and we have a security update that needs to be installed. Thankfully that we can do wirelessly. You've got truck duty today, don't you Leon?" Cloud asked the brunet quickly changing the subject. "He will probably have at least one job for one of us. Yes I am on the truck today Cloud" Leon answered taking a sip of his coffee.

"The twins' names are Sora and Roxas according to my aunt. Both of them do pretty well in school, Roxas takes art extracurricular while Sora takes drama and is pretty good at soccer. Both boys know the basics of Blitzball. She says Sora is really friendly while Roxas is more reserved but neither boy really had any friends back home." Cloud told the brunet, knowing that Leon wanted the information. "Thanks, I've got a feeling… they're going to fit in with the younger ones. Take that as you want it" Leon sighed, his eyes staring into his drink. If the two new boys did fit in it meant they would have some great friends but they would end up isolated and probably ridiculed by the rest of the school. Most of the group that stopped the other kids from bugging them were in university now. And some of the kids there had been waiting for this for a couple of years.

"According to my aunt Sora's got a great attitude, a little ball of sunshine around his brother. I'll see it for myself on Monday she asked me to drive the two of them since the campuses are so close together." "I have to be at class early so I'll see you during economics right?" Leon asked quietly, putting down his coffee cup, giving a miniscule smile at Cloud's nod. "LEONHART! STRIFE! I've got some work for you two! Leon, you need to go out to the Ramsey place, directions are in the bag as are instructions on what you need to do. Cloud, get to the computer, we just got the orders on five security updates." A blond man chewing on an oversized toothpick ordered walking in to the room. The two men got up and went for their respective stations ready for their respective tasks.

* * *

Roxas sighed as Naminé finished her explanation of the system that pretty much governed the school and town. An easy system to play, but one almost impossible to control. He felt there was more to the group's purpose of gathering information and resources than mere power plays and he had a sneaking suspicion as to what it was. If he was right then him and Sora wouldn't be alone anymore, they would be a part of a whole group of people who didn't just understand but were going through it as well. People who wanted to get themselves out of this 'fading' and were working on the means to do so. But still, if the rest of the world was anything like the people back home the teasing; bullying and snubbing of them would be worse due to the fact that they all grouped themselves together. 

If he was right it explained why they were trying so hard not only to get out but while they were hear to control the one thing that could keep them safe and out of most harm's reach. Roxas's eyes shot up from the floor, meeting Naminé's and Axel's eyes noticing Namine had put her drink on the table. "So do you accept our invitation to be a member of the Organization? Riku and Kairi will probably have your brother join up into the group as well. The Organization is slightly split from the rest. The people at HBU have known or are related a lot of the members like Yuna is Aerith's little sister. They're happier people I guess you could say. Xenmas takes care of the Organization, he started the group. He's in university, he got a scholarship to a place outside Radiant Garden but he'll be back on break soon." Naminé asked, her voice calm and level but a smile gracing her pale face.

"Emails go out sometimes about meetings; we have them every so often. If you join I'll show you the difference between a group wide meeting and one just for the Organization. At least the difference between them in the messages!' Axel laughed which was quickly followed by a playful punch from a blushing Naminé "Don't be so mean Axel! That was only the once and Demyx wouldn't stop blushing and stammering for hours! Zexion was so mad at them!" Namine half-shrieked, her face practically glowing red

"I don't know what you two are talking about but from Naminé's reaction it must not be appropriate for polite company. Anyways, yes I will take you two up on the offer. Though you are sure Kairi and Riku will invite my twin to join the larger part of the group?" Roxas asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Positive, from what we've seen Sora's already made fast friends with Kairi and it's inevitable that Riku will end up liking him too. Just a feeling really, but it's a strong one." Namine reassured him "So welcome to the group number thirteen. I'm number eight, _the Flurry of Dancing Flame_. Also know as Axel Harada. This is Naminé Kyoshi, the _Nobody's Princess_." Axel introduced the two of them, moving his hand to indicate who he was speaking about.

"You'll get your nickname at the first meaning. Number 1, Xenmas will be conferenced about you joining the group. Naminé's trusted to recruit people so it can't be revoked, he just needs to be informed about it." The red head finished resting his elbow on the arm of the recliner his hand on his chin. "Fine, now that that's settled, yesterday I had the time to set up a DDR mat and system in the basement. Do you two want to go play?" Roxas nodded at the two who quickly gave an affirmative to the idea.

"Really Namine kicks some serious ass at this game, Kairi's a bit better because of her dance lessons but Naminé is awesome!" Axel laughed as they went down in to the basement of the house, Roxas flicking on the lights. "A finished basement, very nice. What's that door off to the side?" Naminé asked looking at the white oak door, just off the stairs. "My bedroom, I asked mom to let me put it down here. Sora's room is next to it and the bathroom is right over there. See you can hear them playing on his game system with Kairi right now." Roxas nodded at the sounds coming from the second last door on the right. The group went through the archway into the rec room Naminé and Axel sitting on the couch as Roxas pulled out the DDR mat and turned on the playstation.

Naminé giggled as the game started up, jumping on the mat after Roxas had gone to sit down. "I love this game!" she laughed happily, selecting her song and level of difficulty. "Butterfly at normal level? Isn't that one of those retarded songs invented for the game that is incredibly fast-paced?" Roxas asked as Naminé bounced from foot to foot as the intro music played. "Yes, she's been practicing it for like forever. She can do most of it practically in her sleep." Axel told the other boy as Naminé fell into step, beginning to sing along with the song.

"I've been searching in the woods and high upon the hills, just to find, to find to find my samurai. Someone who is strong but still a little shy, yes I need I need my samurai…" Namine sang, moving her feet along with the arrows. The two boys stared at the dancing girl amazed at the brilliance in her face. Roxas looked up at the sound of a door closing in the hall noticing his brother and Kairi coming out from Sora's room the two grinning as they came in to watch the blonde girl play. "She's really good, isn't she Kairi?" Sora asked the raspberry haired girl next to him.

"Yeah, she's been playing it at least three times a week since we got it and she loves that song!" Kairi laughed, tapping her foot to the beat. "How long has she had the game?" Roxas asked as the song began to wind down. "Around three months. It took me forever to get this good and I still can't get it triple A. I seem to be stuck between A and double a. And doesn't that just suck?" Naminé sighed hopping off the mat. "That is quite an impressive score ain't it though Naminé?" Axel told the blonde girl who flopped on the couch between him and Roxas. "I guess…" The blonde girl muttered, glaring at the TV screen. "Ooh I'll go next!" Kairi laughed, bouncing up from the couch and jumping on the mat.

* * *

A couple of hours later we find Riku talking on the phone to Axel. "You were there for what three hours playing DDR? And nothing…happened?" the silver haired boy asked. After waiting a few minutes, obviously listening to the response he spoke again "Naminé asked him to join? So… I guess we will need to have a meeting soon. Zexion called me earlier him and Demyx were at the lake. Thank everything Seth and his boys or well anyone else really didn't show up. Zexion _mirage tricks_ were playing up. Demyx was a 'merman' for the space of thirty minutes. That's the longest recorded time yet." Riku placed his hand on his forehead as if to ward off a headache. 

"You say the only thing odd about these boys as in odd in our way is that they just seem to _fit_ perfectly as if they were always supposed to be there. Well considering everything we've been through I should be relieved. Well I'll meet them soon enough, yeah bye Axel." Riku sighed hanging up the phone "I finished my homework and got those notes copied. Now what? My practice clothes have another half hour until they're out of the wash and I don't want to mess with my only decent relaxing outfit." Riku muttered to himself smoothing out the wrinkles in his blue pants and adjusting his bright yellow shirt, the dark blue X on it holding a high contrast to the rest of it. Kairi hadn't called him again her and Naminé had probably gone home. Naminé was probably drawing or something similar and if knew his best female friends as well as he did she was probably at the barre in her basement practicing. He was so bored!

He grinned as he heard the ding from the basement, his clothes were done early oh yes he was a genius for rooting all of the house's heat through the dryer! His room would just be really cold tonight that was all. He ran downstairs and got changed into the flexible pants and muscle shirt, grabbing his sword on the way outside. As he stood in the middle of his training yard he held his wooden sword up to his face and looked at the targets he had set up over the years. Moving into his fighting stance he sprung at the slashing and stabbing at random intervals quickly moving around hitting a variety of the targets. As he practiced taking out the aggression that had built up over the day out on the dummies a light grew in his eyes.

This felt so right! The weapon wasn't exactly perfect but it worked. His first practice of the day was for practice. The second one was always, always just for this feeling of freedom and escape. As Riku did his katas among the lifeless dummies he began humming a nonsense tune under his breath. The tune soon began taking form as a song_ "I'm gonna make it bend and break... Say a prayer but let the good times roll, in case god doesn't show..." _he sang to himself nearly destroying a couple of dummies with his nearly deadly dance. As the silver haired boy continued with his practice he didn't notice his mother walk out on to the back deck where she stood and watched him.

"Oh Riku… why can't I understand you? Ever since you were a child you were so distant. Sweetheart why can't you tell me what's wrong, why you attack those practice dummies with such vicious grace. I don't even know where you get it from, neither I or your father was anything like this." The light blonde haired woman whispered to herself looking out at her son. "Michael's going to be home soon, I should go start dinner. A family supper would be nice since I got off work early and Michael will be home for supper tonight." She walked back into the house and quietly started up dinner, her sensible black high heels clacking on the tiled floor. The blonde woman adjusted her suit as she turned on the stove so she could cook the fish and fry up the vegetables.

She was completely silent as she worked; a complete contrast to her son who had picked up the habit of humming while he worked from a friend of his, Demyx wasn't it? She thought to herself. The blond boy she knew never stopped humming his voice being extremely musical she may have never asked but she would bet the house the he was a singer. She giggled to herself; she had always found the relationship between Demyx and that other friend of his, the quiet one Zexion to be extremely sweet "Curse my inner fangirl, I'm a grown woman!" she laughed placing the fish in the pan.

After about fifteen minutes the front door opened and her husband walked in. "Hello dear, you're home early." Michael smiled at his wife. "Yes I only got here about a half hour ago, Riku's out back he should be finished practicing soon" She told him as he kissed her on the cheek. "I'll get him as soon as your done. I'll go put my briefcase down and set the table." He replied parting from her and walking into the living room, putting his briefcase by his chair. Outside Riku looked up from his practice area noticing that both of his parents' cars were in the driveway. "Did I practice longer than I planned? There is no way they should be home before seven o' clock at the earliest." He checked his watch "No they are home early it's only 5:45. Unless my watched stopped but it's solar powered…" Riku shook his head and walked in to the house.

"Mom, dad? I saw your cars in the driveway?" Riku asked as he walked in the room "Yes Riku dear, we got home early. Supper will be on the table soon, can you go get changed?" his mother replied from the kitchen "All right…" Riku said heading for his bedroom. He got dressed in the outfit he had been wearing before he went out to practice and headed out to the dining room. "What is for dinner" he asked his parents, his father sitting at the table and his mother in the kitchen putting the food on the plates

"Fish and vegetables dear; I thought it would be nice to have a family dinner since we're so busy usually. How was your day Riku?" Riku's mother (Her name is Angeline) asked her son as she put the plates on the table. "I had a good day, I'm done my homework and I talked with Axel and Kairi on the phone for a little while. There are two new students joining Oblivion High on Monday morning. Twins, their names are Sora and Roxas. They have a cousin that lives here, Cloud Strife." Riku stated as he began eating his supper.

"Oh that's nice, I hope they're nice boys not like that bully I saw trying to beat up that friend of yours that sings, Demyx was his name right? Poor dear it only happened a day ago! He must have gotten some nasty bruising before the shopkeeper pulled the other boy off him!" Angelina tutted sympathetically "Zexion never mentioned anything about Demyx getting hurt, which means Seth actually caught him alone. Thanks for telling me that mom, if Zexion doesn't know about it that means Seth probably threatened him or he just felt embarrassed. Either way, I have some calls to make." Riku half-sighed, half-snarled as he stared at the tabletop. "Demyx, he's that friend of yours whose a pacifist isn't he?" Angelina remarked quietly "That's just morally wrong beating up somebody who won't fight back." "And that's life, bunches of kids at school don't like us for one reason or another. That's why everyone is so tight; we have to protect each other." Riku replied, his fist clenched. The rest of supper was spent in silence, Riku quietly excusing himself at the end to go to his room.

* * *

"Ah… Secrets again. For making Demyx think he could not tell me about this, I will take care of this personally Riku. Demyx's ideals are starting to shatter a bit, he's tired of being completely defenseless. I hate that it's come to this. We will wait a bit so he doesn't make the connection." Zexion quietly snarled. Whatever that _bastard_ Seth had done must have been horrible if Demyx purposefully had hidden it from him. "I'll send a thank you note to Riku's mother." He whispered to himself as he furiously typed on his computer, colors and shape like images dancing behind him. 

Thousand of files and windows spun on the screen, the light of the computer being the only one in the room. "Transfer of files 65. I'll be completely set up at the mansion within a week. Then everything can start. By the end of this year everything will be perfect" Zexion's smile had a sadistic edge to it as his fingers flashed over the keys. The dark room flashed with the lights from the computer as Zexion sent his files to his other computer and began working on hacking through the security programs that he was looking at.

"The more information we get, the more security we get, the more assured our goal becomes. By any means necessary, we will survive" Zexion silently swore to the empty room that seemed to echo with the words. "No matter what our personal situation is, no matter what we are really like or how we really feel…. We are outsiders and are only truly accepted among each other. Even those of us with normal people who care, as long as those people fade we must escape." Somehow the slate-haired boy understood that manipulation sometimes was the only way to keep yourself safe.

When his anger got the best of him well that was a different story. He much preferred making people look like idiots and making them do as he pleased. After all he wanted to be known for his brains not his brawn. "And somehow, although it is all we ever known, I wish it hadn't have come to this. But alas there are no medications or drugs to make this go away. No therapy can cure it, because this unfortunately is the truth of our existance. Is we who do not exist or is it them? In my greed for myself and my friends, how I pray that it is them who truly do not exist." Zexion grimaced

"But how likely is it that over 6 billion people do not exist over thirty something that do? Maybe we simply do not belong, that might be our best hope for sanity. I'm almost done my work for the night, and then I can get back to reading my book, that'll be nice." Zexion's face stayed impassive but a small light of amusement was evident in his visible eye, the other one covered by his hair. He quickly began finishing up with his files, placing an erasel program to clear his history so there would be no evidence of his hacking on the computer. No one checked it, his parents were to busy with there high paying jobs to do so but it never hurt to be careful. If the cleaning lady stumbled upon it he was quite frankly screwed.

Most teens would feel a bit resentful of their parents for being away so often but Zexion felt otherwise. Their paycheck made getting certain supplies legally easier and since they were away so often his comings and goings as well as the ones of his friends were unknown and therefore not restricted. "Trying times are many, and relaxing times are few when you have the claws of an unknown fate upon your shoulder" Zexion muttered as he began shutting down the computer, flicking on a lamp to make sure he wouldn't trip as he left the room. "I hope nothing interrupts my reading tonight, I want to make to where they get into the Midlands tonight" he softly told himself as he walked out of the room hitting the switch as he exited.

He quickly walked up the stairs on to the first floor, walking around to make sure everything was off for the night before heading up to the second floor and going into his bedroom. It was colored in a dark blue shade with black and slate accents. The bed looked extremely comfortable and a lazy boy like chair sat next to a wide window that showed the outside sky. The drapes were open and the blinds were up allowing the fading late evening light to spill into the room and a good view of the soon to be appearing stars was offered. Zexion turned on his reading lamp and sat down in the chair before cracking open his extremely thick novel.

The chilly evening air wafted through the room bringing inside the scent of freshly cut grass and decomposing leaves in their piles. It was a very autumn scent Zexion had to admit, nothing like the thousands of autumn breeze candles that were sold at Wal-Mart at this time of year, he thought oddly enough the rotting leaves and grass smelled better, at least they were natural instead of the horrible chemicals that were placed in the candles to make them smell the way they did. "Demyx usually calls before he goes to sleep, I should ask him about it, he might have just refrained from speaking about it because he forgot. That would be like him…" Zexion muttered to himself as he read. Truthfully although the confession would never reach his thoughts, he purposefully waited for those calls. Afterwards he would put his book down, turn his lights off and get into bed for a relatively peaceful but filled with the odd dreams and nightmares that the lot of them sleep.

Even his sub-conscious didn't know exactly why this was; it was simply the way of the world. Like why girls giggled and also why some of them found hot guys making out to be attractive and the reverse for men. Interestingly enough or perhaps not so, Zexion's mind had timed out almost the exact time frame in which Demyx would call. Within ten minutes of this time the blinds and drapes would be drawn and he would be changed into his nightwear. Around 9:45 the phone in his room rang. He quickly put down his book and picked up the cordless from its base.

"Hello Demyx" Zexion said in his quiet tone, muffled burbling being noticeable from the speaker part of the phone "Well, yes I remember what you asked Dem just… getting used to saying it again…. I know this seems kind of odd but if something happened, would you tell me?" Zexion asked forcing down the slight nervous feeling into his shoes. Slightly panicked tones were picked up from the phone "Of course Dem I trust you. Just asking really, it's just me being paranoid." Zexion reassured the boy "Now you said when you left you were going to be working on a new song tonight, so hows that going?"

* * *

Demyx had curled up into his large double bed, his pillows and blankets surrounding him like a miniature nest. The cordless was cradled next to his ear as he happily babbled to his best friend. "I've got most of the tune down, same with the words I'm just having some trouble getting the chorus to flow in with the final verse. So far everything I've done seems… awkward." Demyx told the boy on the other side of the phone. "I know I'll get it, it's just sorta frustrating Zex" he sighed while fingering his sitar gently, running his fingers against the strings. 

The room was very blue, ocean designs lining the walls along with band posters. The floor was covered in a light green carpet with greenish blue mixed in. The door was painted to match and the few bookshelves in the room were covered with graphic novels, magazines, and music books. The bedside table next to Demyx's bed had a small fish patterned lamp on it and the base for the cordless phone. As Demyx happily talked he had gently put down his instrument, his feet bouncing on the bed. "I know I shouldn't be so hyper, but it isn't a school night tonight Zex! I'm allowed to be hyper; anyways I'll crash from the sugar in a half hour and basically pass out anyway!" Demyx laughed as his feet bounced up and down against the surface of his bed. "Well since six o' clock I've only had one chocolate bar and two pixie sticks, normal size. See not that much sugar!" Demyx calmed for a minute a smiled serenely

"Yes, good night Zex I'll see you in the morning." The blond haired boy laid down, his head sinking into the pillow "I should have told him… I really, really should have told him." He muttered, his voice muffled by the pillow "But Seth if he does what he says he'd do we're screwed, the cheerleaders they have enough reason to gang up on the lot of us and between the two of them they could turn the school against us. That would destroy our information network; I doubt… if we lose it we won't make it through high school intact. It'll take forever to do damage control" Demyx bit his lip, looking at the bruise that littered his upper arm and wincing as the ones on his lower back were aggravated by his movements

"One more mark on his record and Zexion will get an in-school suspension. If he gets that his scholarship opportunities… well most of them will go down the drain. He wants to get into a good university on his own merits, not his parents." He sighed as he settled again. "I lied; I'm going to sleep early tonight I'll heal quicker that way" he turned and flicked off his light and buried himself in his blankets, waiting for sleep to come.

Downstairs his father and stepmother were talking quietly. "I'm worried about him, music is a nowhere vocation, he'll end up on the streets. Can't you push him for different electives Harold?" the light brown haired woman asked her husband "It's his passion Laura. Second of all do you want to have microscopic letter bombs in your mail? I tried pressuring him to join a sport, swim team he likes swimming right? The competition got to him; he didn't want to be there in the first place… It took me weeks afterward to stop being paranoid about opening my mail. And they like me! Axel lit Mr. Fluffles on fire, and Demyx accidentally flooded the house three times after you moved in I don't think they like you. I do not want to see what they will do to you." Harold told her

"I'm just worried about him, he does get bullied relatively bad and he doesn't even fight back. Pacifism isn't normal for boys his age." Laura shrugged a concerned look on her face. "Laura I love you, truly I do but Demyx… Holly loved him to bits and even when he was five she was unable to be close to him because he was such a distant little child for all of his happiness, the only thing he was close to was his friends. And as he's gotten older it has only gotten worse. Don't force anything and drive him even further away. I want to enjoy this time I still have with him. I'm not dying but I have a feeling that he's leaving" Harold warned her

"She just went about it the wrong way, discipline works wonders. He'll leave eventually for university Harold but that's a couple of years away he's fifteen." Laura reasoned with her husband not wanting to believe his words. "…It's your funeral Laura dear." He sighed, looking at her determined visage. "Have a little faith in me, everything will turn out fine, he likes the ocean right? I'll ask him about taking science courses too so he can get a degree in marine biology." Laura smiled happily, pleased with her plan.

"You're very considerate Laura; I know you aren't particularly fond of Demyx. Just don't push him… Things will spin out of control, I just know it" Harold sighed, wiping his glasses "I think you're making to big of deal out of this dear, let's go up to bed. It's getting late and we have to wake up early for church, Demyx's isn't coming again." Laura said standing up and heading for the stairs "We'll be meeting the Drew's there correct? They've been worried about their son, Marluxia. He hasn't been around lately." Laura stated quietly as they walked up the stairs, speaking quietly after noticing that there wasn't a light on in the blond teen's room.

"He's probably off some where's gardening. I heard Demyx mention once that it's the boy's hobby." Harold told his wife. The two entered there room and turned on the television to watch some primetime television and then the 10:00 News hour like they did every night. Yes, Laura Lewis prided herself on having a normal life, but sooner or later the abnormalities in her life would become part of the public view. And then everything she had worked for would go to pieces; still no one, not even Laura had yet to realize this.

* * *

"Sora, Roxas I'm home! I am so sorry I'm late. My boss had me do what he wanted me to do then he made sure I was oriented with everything and before I knew it was 8:00 and I was leaving." The brunette told her sons. "It's alright mom! If you could be home earlier you would have!' Sora hugged her happily; Roxas hanging back his arms crossed "It's really all right mom, we're fine. We made some new friends; there are other kids our age around here. Kairi and Naminé Kyoshi and they invited their friend Axel Harada over. They are all really, really nice." Roxas told her walking out of the room "I'm going to bed. We played DDR for three hours, I'm tired. Sora, don't stay up too late or you'll be dead tired tomorrow morning. Not that it really matters, tomorrow is Sunday" Roxas waved, his back turned to the two as he headed for the stairs down to his room. 

"So how was your day Sora?" His mother, Rita asked her youngest son. "I had a great day mom! Kairi is really awesome and likes video games and her friend Riku, she's known him since she was little sounds like a lot of fun to hang out and she says he's really good at Soul Caliber! Naminé and Axel seem nice to, but they seem more like Roxas's type of friends than mine. I… really like it here" Sora finished shyly "That's wonderful dear, I'm so happy, everything… everything will be better now" she hugged him tightly, the brunet boy giving a small smile as he was pressed into her bosom.

_'Maybe everything will be alright this time… Nothing's faded all day. Maybe it's a sign…' _Sora felt hope rise in his chest as his mother continued to hug him. Then all of a sudden the contact disappeared. Sora's head shot up, his eyes widening as he looked at the blank landscape. Shadows began to form and move in, closer and closer and fear started welling up. Just as Sora started panicking the world reasserted itself, his mother still hugging him. After she let go and he went downstairs to his room he leaned against his wall, forcing back the sadness that had set into his gut.

"It will never be alright, she… can't help me or Roxas. We don't belong. But, but why didn't any of them go away?" Sora changed into his sleepwear, hit his light leaving a small one on next to his dresser and then flopped down on his bed. "I'm the happy one; I'm fine I won't let anything get me down. Someone needs to be strong and Roxas is strong, in his way as I am in mine" he muttered to himself as he drifted off to dreamland, praying for pleasant ones.

Meanwhile in his room, Roxas played with a hacky sack, bouncing it back from foot to foot sighing as he heard movement from his brother's room settle. "They have to have a plan for escaping this. They don't disappear so by rational logic they're stuck in the same rut we are except there are more of them. This… this is driving us slowly insane and who's to say we aren't already strange. It's not normal for a three year old to be able to pick any lock without any training. Now? There isn't anything we can't get into. We never lose our keys and Sora is so unfailingly optimistic… I don't want anything to destroy that, though somehow I don't think that's possible." Roxas muttered placing the hacky sack down and opening his laptop. He opened the email program and began typing up a letter to Axel, not quite knowing why he had chosen to write to the pyromaniac over the quiet artist, both seemed relatively easy to talk to.

'Hey Axel, It's Roxas I need to know, when's the next meeting? I… really need to know. See you on Monday; please write me back' "Short sweet and to the point. And it doesn't say anything more than necessary, I may feel like I should trust them, I may feel like I have always known them but I haven't so… better safe than sorry." He grimaced, hitting the send button then quickly logging off, it had been long day and it was 10:30, he was going to bed. Roxas got out of his clothes and looked at himself in the mirror, his black boxers a stark contrast o his pale unblemished skin "Answers, who knows? Hope, most definitely." He sighed as he turned off his light and crawled into his head, pulling the covers over his head.

Their mother sighed as checked up on her boys. "My lonely boys, why won't you tell me? Roxas why don't you ever let me hug you and my Sora baby why do freeze up sometimes when I do and look so sad when you pull away? Your father wasn't understanding and was…cruel. He never struck anyone I have proof of that. You two… have always been a thousand miles away no matter how much I loved you. Somehow I don't think that will change though you two may find better lives here. I love you both and… I respect your choices. I may not understand, but you both know what's best for yourself even at this age and somehow that makes me so sad. You grew up so quickly." Rika sighed, tears in her eyes, closing her children's doors and walking up to her own room.

"I'm so very sorry. Maybe if I stay busy whatever it is won't hurt you so much. As she opened the door to her room on the second floor she quickly got into her jammies and fell asleep, tossing and turning. All over the news of the new family had circled through the group of outsiders quickly and quietly the news leaving all of them wondering _'What does this mean for us? Things are changing… so quickly'_

* * *

_Lithium, don't want to lock me up inside.  
Lithium, don't want to forget how it feels without...  
Lithium, ...stay in love with you.  
I'm gonna let it go._

* * *

Well that's chapter one. My longest thing yet. 

Please if you review nothing negetive yet. If something doesn't make sense it most likely will be explained in a later chapter, my muse is very sensitive and doesn't take criticism well.

It'll take awhile for the next chapter to come out.

My speeling and thought trains might be a little off in the end of the last paragraph, I got back from the doctors and I had anesthetic

-Nebula


	3. White Noise 1:2

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Zilch, nada, nuffin. Don't sure me, all you'll get is pocket lint.

_Summary: The universe is a confusing place. What if the heroes and anti-heroes we all know so well ended up somewhere that they do not belong. A world that rejects their existance? Their enemies conspired to get them out of the way but the higher powers fixed things. Now all they know is that they don't belong and that all they have is each other. The genesis of the ultimate war has begun. All that's left in this rebirth is half-won memories of what might be or what might have been. Welcome to the Darkside Rhapsody, the lights in the shadows and the shadows in the light._

* * *

**_Dark Dreams_**

**_Chapter Two: White Noise_**

_Chapter Theme: Sunlight by Natalie Imbrugila_

_Long Title: White Noise of Madness and Memory_

* * *

_Today we don't know  
Who we are  
Ashamed, hiding behind the scars  
Too many times  
We let the things we feel  
Get in the way of letting us  
Heal the wounds  
That open in the dark  
Did you ever feel  
Sunlight on your face?  
Did you ever taste clouds?  
Did you ever touch space?  
Did you ever feel  
Sunlight on your face?  
Did you ever truly live? _

* * *

The weekend ended in the swift way that all weekends do, to soon. Before they knew it Sora and Roxas were waiting for their cousin to come and pick them up. "He better not be late. Teachers hate it when you're late on the first day. You look incompetent and I have advanced classes for art. I have to make a good impression." Roxas muttered staring out at the street his back pack next to him. It was a rucksack that looked like it had gone through the ringer a couple of times "Don't worry Kairi told me he's very reliable, he should be here any minute. We'll see the girls and everybody once we get to school." Sora grinned happily looking at his twin. "So when do you think they'll give us our schedules? I know what I signed up for and if they bump me out of my art class…" Roxas trailed off snarling as Cloud drove up in his truck.

"You Roxas and Sora?" The blond-haired blue-eyed man asked the two who nodded. "Get in, the name's Cloud Strife, though considering you met the girls you already knew that." He opened the door and popped the seat so the two could get in back. Roxas swung his bag over his shoulder and followed his slightly younger brother into the truck. Roxas checked the emblem on the truck, a Dodge Dakota relatively good truck for someone in uni. "Nice truck" Roxas commented climbing in after Sora. Cloud shrugged "It does its job" After the two boys were buckled in Cloud revved up the truck and headed in the direction of Oblivion High and the HBU campus.

"Do you have to drive so… quickly?" Roxas asked tersely, noting his younger brother's joyous expression as they rounded a corner sharply. "I need to be at my computer business class for 9:30, it is 8:45 now. My teacher isn't fond of me even with my average." Cloud explained, a neutral expression on his face "Is there a problem? You don't get motion sick or anything do you?" Cloud asked his tone slightly amused "No, I remember when we were driving in through town that within the next street you pass both the police station and the donut shop. Don't want to get a warning for reckless driving with minors in the vehicle do we?" Roxas replied sarcastically "Roxas be nice, he's doing mom a favor by driving us. You hate going on the bus" Sora told his older brother quietly. Nevertheless Cloud had slowed down. Not only because in the long run it would save time but because Yuffie and Tifa would mock him upside down and sideways, then Aerith would be disappointed in him for not driving carefully with minors in the car. He hated that look Aerith got when she was disappointed in someone. It made you feel awful with a capital A. Stupid guilty conscience….

It only took a few more minutes for them to arrive at the high school and Cloud quickly dropped the two boys off before rushing the vehicle towards his first class. "Kairi!" Sora laughed giving a running glomp to the raspberry haired girl "Good morning Sora" she laughed, giving the boy a hug in return. Naminé waved shyly at Roxas, gesturing him over to her Axel and a group of other boys. "Hey Naminé, Axel. Care to introduce me to your friends?" Roxas said walking over to the group "This is Demyx and Zexion. Larxene and Marluxia are skipping school today I think, Marly's been out of it all week and Larxene is not in the best of moods" All of the guys shivered in unison While Naminé stared at them and giggled "Larxene is what most people call a man-eater and she has a pissy temper. The school board _still_ can't find the taser she carries with her. Let's just say the nurse knows how to treat burn damage from electric shock very well." The blonde girl leaned in and whispered to the new boy. "Ah, why do I feel that this is going to be an interesting school year?" Roxas shook his head looking at the rest of the group.

Demyx had a pair of earphones on which appeared to be attached to a blue iPod nano, he was bobbing his head back in forth with the music. Zexion was reading an extremely thick book which Roxas couldn't see the title of. Axel had taken out his lighter and appeared to be looking for something in his pocket. "Axel, did you steal something from the chem. lab, a place where you are legally not allowed to be within ten meters of before I got to school?" Naminé asked tapping her foot as she looked at the taller male. "Umm no?" Axel replied his eyes darting back and forth as he took his hand out of his pocket. "Did you take anything flammable from… oh never mind, I really don't care, it's too early its Monday and the princesses and the color guard are coming on the next bus which means we have ten minutes to deal with the cheerleaders along with Seth and his gang without any back-up." Naminé snarled looking at the bus that had just drove in

"Where's Sora and your sister?" Roxas asked cautiously "Kairi took your twin inside to meet up with Riku in the second floor café. Smart girl, Seth _loves_ fresh meat to screw around with." Axel snarled as the basketball player got off the bus, his posse behind him "Well, well do the little nobodies have a new friend?" The 6'4 blond basketball player asked mockingly, his friends chiming in after him in their gruff tones. "What's your name, nobody?" he sneered looking at the much shorter Roxas "Does it matter? An oaf like you wouldn't remember it." Roxas replied an angry look in his eyes; this jackass reminded him of the idiots back home that used to toss Sora in garbage cans. Sora was good at fighting, very good at that but it's hard to hurt somebody who gangs up on you with two other kids and all of them are taller than you. "Well shorty, it'll be nice to know who I'm humiliating in front of all of these beautiful ladies." Seth gestured behind him to a gaggle of girls in cheerleaders' uniforms who smirked at him "First of all why would I care about those airheads, if they find you attractive they must have pretty low IQ's. Second, if you had any real power you should know that already right?" Seth drew back at the venomous tone in Roxas's voice an opportunity the younger boy used to throw his foot out behind the bullies legs causing him to trip. "Don't leave your back unguarded, hate to see what would happen if you did." Roxas finished, crossing his arms over his chest. Seth friends quickly picked him up and started snarling at the group before ushering their leader inside the building.

The cheerleaders stalked up to the group two tall blonde girls in the front. "So Nami, how's Rikku? Word on the street is that the poor girl was found crying in the girl's washroom a few days ago. Did she and Paine have a fallout?" the one with her hair up in a ponytail asked, obviously fake concern lighting her face. "Kayla, both you, I and everyone else knows that Rikku was upset last Wednesday because you and the cheerleaders cornered her and teased her until she lost it. The only reason you girls aren't in trouble is because the school board doesn't give a damn about us. Unlike you girls whose parents are either on the board or are paying them off. Since you girls couldn't cover up your deeds to save your lives" Naminé smirked, putting her hands on her hips glaring at the cheerleaders "Who's the midget? Your boyfriend Naminé, considering your attitude I didn't think that you could get one." The other blonde taunted, matching Naminé's pose "This is Roxas Hikari, he's new around here. My neighbor. I thought I'd be polite and show him around, you know common courtesy. Wouldn't want as he said an airhead like you Nikki getting him lost would we? Oh look is that Paine's bus?" Namine finished looking over the cheerleaders shoulders at the approaching bus. The two girls looked behind them and paled "This isn't over!" they hissed quickly heading inside the school.

The bus stopped and off bounced the three girls. Paine's distinctive hairstyle along with Rikku's bright blonde hair and Yuna's unique eyes parted the crowd that still lingered. The three girls walked arm and arm towards the group. "Naminé! Ohh who's the cute little newbie?" cooed Rikku as she adjusted her headband, the braid lying across her face bouncing with her movements. "My sister Aerith heard from Cloud that this is one of his cousins that just moved here. So which one of them are you; Sora or Roxas?" Yuna asked her light brown hair framing her face. "The name's Roxas, you must be Yuna, Rikku and Paine." Roxas nodded at each of the girls in turn, Yuna's green and blue eyes lighting up at the blond boy's manners "Ohh I like him Paine. Right nice and polite." Yuna giggled "And he's really spunky." Axel grinned throwing his arm around his shoulder, Roxas blushing bright red. "The bell's going to ring soon, shouldn't somebody take Roxas to the guidance office to get his schedule and locker number? Plus the first class you three have is on the other side of the building from your lockers. One more late and you get an unexcused absence. And you three know what that means" Zexion said looking up from his book. The three girls looked guiltily at each other before turning and smiling "So sorry to leave so soon, But Zexion is right, we have to get going." The three girls quickly ran off so fast you could almost see an anime style dust cloud behind them.

"They're best friends aren't they, the three of them?" Roxas asked, still staring at the door "Completely inseparable, they balance each other out. Paine's aggressive, Yuna's kind, and Rikku's hyper. Together they're like… one whole scary girl." Axel shuddered staring at the door, Roxas suddenly realizing the taller boy had yet to remove his arm from his shoulders. The younger boy quickly ducked away, moving closer to Naminé, blushing as he half glared at the older boy. Naminé giggled as she watched the expressions on the two boys' faces, Axel was smirking at the smaller boys, his eyes bright with amusement. Naminé laughed and grabbed the two boys, before guiding them up the steps into the school.

* * *

"Alright, the guidance office is right in here." Naminé grinned, pointing Roxas in to the small corner office. "Good morning Miss. Kyoshi, your sister brought in a new student this morning, this must be the other brother, Roxas" The bright cheery woman behind the desk greeted the blonde girl with a smile "Oh yes Mam this is Roxas, can you please give him his schedule and locker number?" Naminé smiled at the woman in return. Roxas gave a shy grin to the woman, his eyes flashing to the doorway where Axel was lingering just outside of. The secretary passed Roxas two sheets of paper, one of them containing a timetable. As the two of them exited the office, Axel rejoining them after they left the office, Roxas spoke up "Why didn't Axel come in as well? Knowing him wouldn't he want to embarrass me in front of an authority figure?" Naminé looked half guilty, half amused at the new boy's question "The secretary isn't exactly fond of Axel. He got assigned to help her once for detention. Well… bored Axel plus flammable material you do the math" Axel grinned wickedly "The stuff went up beautifully, don't worried it was completely controlled. It just scared miss peppy happy senseless. So now I avoid her" he shrugged, grabbing Roxas's locker number

"Hey what do you know, you're in the same hall as the rest of us. I think it's a conspiracy. Back when Xenmas was still here I think he paid them off. Now if someone comes in with someone he's identified they get put in this hallway" Axel laughed, passing Roxas back the paper as he led them to the aforementioned hallway. "Locker thirteen zero, zero. How fitting everything considering." Naminé giggled looking at his locker "Whatever, I'm just going to put my stuff in here and lock it up. I have Advanced Art first class, what about you two?" Roxas kneel down, opening up his locker and putting binders from his rucksack, then putting them inside, leaving a single scribbler, a sketchbook and art supplies in his bag. "Ohh I have A. Art first thing, Axel's got… what was it again? The school took forever to find an elective that had absolutely no possible risk for flame related accidents for you." Naminé sighed exasperated, looking up at the red-head "Martial Arts, remember Naminé? Except I don't have it today because our actual teacher is still in the hospital from his mock fight with his 'assistants' otherwise known as Roxas's cousin and Leon Leonhart. I've got Math first thing today, then free period. I checked, Roxas has Martial Arts tomorrow with me. Lucky twit's got Chemistry 10, Mr. Ramino is pretty cool. I've talked to him occasionally, since I'm not exactly allowed in Chemistry… anymore." Axel pouted at the end "Allowing known pyro in vicinity of explosive/flammable chemicals… I wonder why?" Roxas said sarcastically, Naminé's giggles drowned out by the bell "Come on, we got to get to class! See you next period Axel!" Naminé grabbed Roxas's arm, her other one waving good-bye to Axel as she navigated the hallways dragging the blond boy behind her.

"Just to let you know for about half a term Axel was in chemistry, the school board kicked him out after he accidentally lit his lab partner on fire. I think the guy's name was Davis or something…" Naminé trailed off as the entered the art classroom. "Oh… Hi Lulu!" Naminé waved at one of the girls that was already in class with her sketchbook out. "Naminé, new person." Lulu nodded at each of them before redirecting her attention back to her drawings the black haired girl's bang obscuring her eye "How's Quitis been doing? Didn't you two get paired up for a biology project? I haven't talked to her lately" Naminé asked the slightly gothic girl "She's fine, can't wait for color guard practices to start up Selphie's been unbearably hyper about the whole thing. Can you tell me his name?" Lulu looked up annoyed that Naminé hadn't answered her unspoken question. "Kairi's been pretty excited too. Oh this is Roxas Hikari, him and his twin brother just moved here." Naminé smiled happily "Odd, how long has he been here? Everything considered…." Lulu shrugged "We got here on Thursday, Naminé and Kairi came to visit us on Saturday." Roxas informed the black-haired girl. "Lucky for you to be able to keep everything under wraps for so long" Lulu commented as the teacher entered the room. Naminé and Roxas quickly took their seats and pulled out their materials "Okay today class we're starting working on surrealism. I want you to draw something that defies the laws of nature… Like if it rained dinkie cars instead of water! Use your imaginations, go as wild as you want!" the teacher exclaimed after writing the assignment up on the board "That's Mr. Duncan, he's only doing this to pay his bills. He's an actual artist, pretty nice though" Naminé whispered to him.

* * *

"You're not a big fan of math are you Sora?" Riku asked the cinnamon haired teen who staring at the math sheet with a cross between shock and dislike. "We weren't near this back home. Roxas tried explaining it to me, he likes math he's good at it. It isn't his favorite but he's always had relatively good marks. I have no clue what to do" Sora's head hit the desk a note of despair in his voice. "Alright for this first one, you will in the equation like so, then you hit these buttons on the calculator" Riku poked the younger boy and began instructing him in the finer ways of grade ten trigonometry. After a little bit Sora spoke up "Riku, I was wondering something. You're older than me, sixteen right? So why are you in this class?" "Well I was born after the age deadline. So I ended up with the younger kids, I was only about two weeks off the date but none the less here I am" Riku replied "That sucks, so you are older than everybody in class. So you must be sixteen, right? Classes to get your learner's permit start up soon I think. Are you taking the test?" Sora asked, writing out his answers on his paper "I might, it would make things easier. It would probably make my parents happy too I guess…" Riku trailed off as he worked on his own problems "Having your own car is total freedom, I can't wait to get my license! Though mind you I don't exactly have the means to get my own car. Just having the ability to drive is good enough for me!" Sora laughed putting his hands behind his head and grinning "You told me that you're taking drama next period… You have it with the girls. You haven't met them yet, but I'm pretty sure they know who you are. The girls I'm referring to are Rikku Highwind, Yuna Gainsborough, and Paine… I never asked for her last name, I'm not even sure if the teachers use it. When they talk to her it goes along the line of 'You three!' 'Paine, Rikku, Yuna stop talking!' They'll get fussy cooey over you, I just know it." Riku shuddered then laughed, Sora looking at him curiously "What do you mean 'cooey' Riku?" "Well you're small and pretty adorable for a fifteen year old boy. Also as far as I know you're most likely the youngest out of us. Rikku adores cute things… You're doomed." Sora sighed looking at the older boy "Back home… being so short wasn't considered cute or a good thing. Why would it be here?" "You're adorable and your height makes you look even sweeter. The rest of the school populace may not agree but, well we disagree." Riku smirked, ruffling the younger boy's hair. "Mr. Masaki, Mr. Hikari do your work." The math teacher reprimanded "Yes Mam." The two boys chorused putting their pencils to their respective papers. After class ended, Sora turned to the taller boy as they packed up. "Thanks for helping me, I think I get it now Riku" the cinnamon haired boy smiled brightly as he swung his bag over his shoulder. "Your welcome, I was happy to help. Now come on we've got to get to our next classes, what do you have next?" Riku asked peering over the younger boy's shoulder to look at his schedule. "Science with Kairi, she says the teacher also does advanced chemistry and is pretty nice." Sora replied as they walked out the door. The two boys parted, each going to their next classes.

"Hey Kairi!" Sora greeted the red-headed girl happily as he entered the science classroom "Sora! How was math?" Kairi smiled as Sora sat down next to her "Naminé says Roxas has this class too, he should be coming in soon. Axel wouldn't have asked him to skip on the first day!" Kairi giggled and was quickly joined by Sora's quiet laughter. A few minutes before the teacher entered the room, Roxas rushed in. "You were almost late." Kairi whispered as the teacher entered the room. "Naminé was introducing me to Lulu; she was in my art class." Roxas replied. "Oh this is Quistis you two. She's kinda quiet" Kairi introduced the other girl at the table, who had a thin pair of glasses on and was reading a book, which she put down as the teacher started class. Kairi along with the rest of the class got up and passed their work in before sitting back down and opening up their textbooks. Sora and Roxas had each grabbed one from the back of the room. As they read through the assigned reading and then did the attached questions, conversation sprung up. "So this school's pretty big. I mean considering it has both a cheerleading squad and the color guard. Back home all they had was cheerleaders." Roxas commented as he wrote "Twenty-six hundred students, they've organized teams for everything. Considering the university the town's pretty big. Most of the population is uni students and teachers. Rich families end up here too, companies set up base… Well you get the picture. Within another ten or so years this place will be city on par with Ottawa." Quistis shrugged, by then they all would be in the mansion with secure lines of income and the outside world wouldn't be their concern. "Holy shit… Didn't know the economic boom was so big here" Roxas muttered under his breath. "Only you Roxas, would be able to ask a question that get's an explanation of the local economy from it" Sora smiled "Oh what was that club thing that Naminé and Axel were talking to you about on Saturday?" Sora asked curiously. Kairi's eyes shot down to her paper for a second before looking up at the two boys and the other blonde girl would had straightened and was looking at the boys with interest, raising her eyebrows at Kairi. The raspberry haired girl mouthed later at her and then mouthed again to the two boys 'not now'. Both boys closed their mouths and resumed working.

* * *

After class Kairi guided Sora to the drama department, giving him a hug as they separated. "Now Yuna and the other two should keep the cheerleaders that take this class from bugging you. They're pretty vicious and well… they absolutely loathe us." Kairi shrugged as she headed for her next class. The second he walked in he heard a loud squeal before he was glomped. "You're Sora!" Rikku giggled as Yuna smiled serenely, shaking her head at her best friend's antics while Paine pried the hyper blonde girl off Sora. "Now don't scare him…" Paine scolded when Rikku pouted at her "But he's adorable!" she whined, bouncing on the heels of her feet. "Yes and the teacher will be in here any minute. We need this elective to graduate. We don't want you to get held back to take this class again next term because you can't keep yourself contained." Yuna chided gently. "Mou, good point. Sorry for making a fuss guys" Rikku stuck her tongue out slightly and rubbed the back of her head. The three girls gave Sora the final place at the table they shared in the drama studio where the class took place. "The teacher's half-decent, he's just very serious about his job and he doesn't like it when students make… scenes outside of what is done for class work." Yuna explained shrugging her shoulders as Paine half-held Rikku down, trying to convince her to stay and be ready for when the teacher came in.

"He's crotchety and he doesn't like me!" Rikku chimed in as the final bell rang. The rest of the class were in there seats talking to each other in low voices, two empty tables cutting the room in half. The teacher walked in the room and called the class to attention "Today class will be doing improve! Now everyone get into groups of three!" The middle-aged man told the class "Yes Mr. Dougherty!" the right half of the class chimed, the three girls and Sora nodding to indicate they understood. "Damn... you're stuck with one of them unless there's no one left at the end, just stick here till the end." Paine muttered to the brunet boy quietly. Thankfully Sora ended up with the three girls due to him being an uneven number. "Okay so… Let's introduce each other while we wait for Mr Dougherty to give us our assignment. My name is Yuna Gainsborough; I'm sixteen years old a 'Summoner' and my two best friends are Rikku and Paine.' The light-haired brunette smiled gently at Sora, winking when she said 'Summoner' "I'm Rikku Highwind; Also sixteen years old. My dad runs the local security system, one Cid Highwind. And of course _my_ best friends are Yuna and Paine-chan!" Rikku giggled in a slightly demented tone. "The name's Paine Meimei, yes Zexion is my cousin. I'm sixteen years old and as these two said, we're best friends. My favorite food is sweet dumplings" Paine said in a monotone voice. "Oooh, ooh! My favorite food is Pocky!" Rikku laughed "I favor honey biscuits, personally" Yuna added. "My name is Sora Hikari; I'm fifteen years old and my twin brother's name is Roxas. My favorite food is bananas!" He laughed happily as the teacher walked up to them with the sheet that gave them their 'theme' "Okay, we're doing an airport scene. Well… we should try to work out roles, and then we'll start doing the improvisation." Yuna said, as she looked over the paper. "Okay, that sounds good Yuna." Sora nodded as he peeked at the assignment. "Oh, oh can I be a flight attendant?" Rikku asked, bouncing in her seat. "Sure why not…" Paine muttered in seat, slightly slouching. The group began working on what their roles would be and then waiting for the teacher to call them up. "Sir, you need to follow me to your seat." Rikku spoke as they began doing their act. The four successfully completed their act, taking their seats afterwards.

"We have lunch next. Kairi should be by to show you to the café but I think we'll show you today. Kairi's had her turn showing you around!" Rikku hugged the younger boy as the last acts wound themselves up "Thanks girls, but Rikku shouldn't you ask the other two before you say something like that?" Sora remarked quietly, looking at the other two girls. "Miss Highwind please refrain from your antics, class is almost over." Mr. Dougherty said his arms crossed as he looked at the group. The other half of the class holding chuckles and giggles back behind their hands. Rikku straightened as Paine tensed up and Yuna met the teacher's eyes. "If class is almost over why should it matter? Frankly we weren't interrupting you sir, so why should you care" she said calmly, never letting him turn from her cool, yet slightly disturbing gaze. Sora supposed the fact that her eyes were two different colors was kinda of freaky. "Miss Gainsborough, I expected this from Miss Meimei or Miss Highwind but not you. See me after school; you have detention for disrespecting a teacher. And I don't want to see your little friends lurking around. If Miss Meimei get's another detention she's suspended." Mr. Dougherty told her coolly as the bell rang. The group got up slowly, the three girls regrouping so they stood next to each other. Paine and Rikku flanked Yuna's left and right sides in silent support, Rikku nodding at Sora to indicate he should follow them. The cheerleaders stood up and stalked over to the group. "Goody-goody Yuna in trouble? Oh how shocking!" Nikki mocked, laughing. Paine sneered "You'd get in trouble for all of your note-passing, class-disturbing, and drinking at the dances if your parents weren't paying the school to ignore it. You're such a daddy's girl, all you do is mock us and go whine to your parents when we retaliate." The three girls and Sora walked out of the classroom and headed for the cafeteria quickly, hoping to avoid further confrontation. Even Sora felt an odd anger rising in his gut. What right did those girls have to mess with them? He had never done anything to them and they automatically disliked him because of who he had decided to hang out with. Not that it made much of a difference anyway…

* * *

"Sora, come sit over here!" Roxas called to his twin from the seating area the lot of them had basically taken over. "Hey bro, Riku it's great to see you!" Sora grinned happily, sitting next to the silver haired boy. Kairi spoke up "So how was drama Sora? Rikku didn't glomp you to much?" the raspberry haired girl grinned, looking at the blue-eyed boy with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Mr. Dougherty gave Yuna a detention." Paine said a slightly grim tone in her voice. "He told us not to wait for her. Paine you can't get another detention, your parents will spaz if you're suspended" Rikku told the light-haired girl worriedly. "It's worth it, Rikku why do they matter? It's worth it." Paine muttered darkly to the blonde girl. The two girls' conversation went unheard by the rest of the table who had gotten caught up talking about what movies were out. The other happened to mention a new store opening up on Friday that sold a lot of the clothing styles they enjoyed. "I swear, I saw them bringing in the merchandise. Cover skirts, you know the kind you like Yuna the ones that have a pair of short shorts and a layer of fabric covering one leg." Kairi babbled, grinning happily "Plus they have Kairi's zipper corset shirts and lots of other stuff. I think I even saw some of Riku's exercise clothing in there." Naminé finished for her sister, who was caught up in drinking her soda.

"Sora, are you good at sword fighting? That's the lesson we're starting with tomorrow. I figured I should ask considering you share the class with me." Riku asked Sora quietly, his aquamarine green eyes glinting with amusement at the slightly overwhelmed look on the younger boy's face "You aren't used to so many people are you…?" Riku asked. Sora nodded "Our previous school was a lot smaller and people kinda avoided me and Roxas. Yeah I know sword fighting; I'm pretty good at it too. Only Roxas has ever worked me to a tie." Sora grinned happily, his hand rubbing the back of his head. "Good, I'll have some competition in sword fighting then." Riku half grinned half smirked at the brunet boy. "Boys all they think about is fighting…" Kairi sighed, giggling as she looked over at her sister and the other girls at the table. All of the girls laughed at the put-out expressions on the boys faces "We don't just think about fighting! We think about schoolwork and stuff like that!" Demyx half-whined from his seat "And food." Yuki Shiro a young lady with brown eyes and short black hair that curled at the ends remarked. "Yuki's right Demyx, food most definitely is on the fore front." Jasmine said, grabbing her bottle of water and unscrewing the cap.

"You know girls; it isn't fair to gang up on us like this. We're just boys you know." Axel remarked sarcastically, all of the women turning their heads towards him and smirking "Well… Axel I guess you're right. It isn't fair I mean we do out number you…" Naminé trailed off before jumping and tickling the taller red-head. "Okay, okay I'm sorry! Stop tickling me Nami!!" Axel roared trying to get the blonde girl off him. "So what do you guys do for fun around here? No one's talked about clubs, café's, arcades or anything like that yet." Roxas asked, lifting his sandwich to his mouth. "I have my dance class and Nami has her art. Outside of classes and lessons we shop. Naminé enjoys browsing at Chapters a lot." Kairi shrugged "I'm trying to form a band and there's this place we like to play at, Castle Oblivion. It's not a club or anything, just a good place to play. The ballroom's got awesome acoustics." Demyx grinned "I read and do computer work as a hobby." Zexion shrugged. "Fire and sparring. Going clubbing is pretty fun too. Riku spars like a maniac." Axel smirked "Marly gardens and well Larxene… has sex as often as she can. She isn't a whore or anything, just a nympho. It's a disease you know." Roxas eyes widened slightly, quickly turning his sights to his younger brother who was caught up with talking to Riku. "Is that something you would say about her if she could hear it?" Roxas asked, raising his eyebrow "Yes, she'd just whack me over the head. It isn't a shock worthy offense so I can just say it. If I called her a whore now then I'd be electrocuted." Axel nodded, the rest of the listening males at the table chimed in with there agreement.

"Men, if it wasn't for the fact that none of them deserve to be in the nurse's office, she is such a witch! We would tell her what you said." Alice, a freshman with long blonde hair held back by a black ribbon shook her head. She was wearing a blue skirt and a short sleeved white top. "Alice, we know you want to get back to reading but don't be so harsh." Kairi told the other girl, turning her head away from the conversation Riku and Sora were having. "Sorry Kai, I'm just in the middle of a chapter so I want to get back to it. I have English after lunch so I can read then. It would be pretty rude to read while everyone's talking." Alice smiled at the other girl "Why would it be rude? Zexion's doing it." Kairi blinked, nodding over in the direction of the slate-haired boy. "Zexion's anti-social, it's almost expected that he'd be reading. That's why it's not bothersome I guess." Alice politely shrugged at the red-head's question "Though mind you, my earlier comment was ruder than reading at the table…" Alice grimaced "I apologize for my earlier remark" "Don't worry about it Alice!" Axel waved his hand at her indicating he wasn't offended. "Well I'm off to the english pod. I want to get in some extra reading. I'll see you in class Demyx." Alice nodded, standing up from the table. "I think I almost got the ending worked out." Demyx spoke up suddenly "Really? Once you're done you are going to play it for me right Dem..yx?" Zexion flinched at the end as he added the ending to his friend's name. Over the weekend he really had gotten used to calling him by his nickname. "Of course Zex, why wouldn't I play for you?" Demyx smiled happily, patting his sitar bag. He kept it with him at all times for a reason he didn't quite understand.

* * *

Meanwhile in the semi-deserted area that was the Language pod, Alice walked in the door with her book. As she approached her English classroom she suddenly shivered, a cool chill working its way down her back. "Oh dear…" she murmured as the area around her began to fade and change. _'This is where you belong Alice…' _a voice, a familiar voice whispered to her. Her head whipped around looking for its source. Out of the corner of her eye she saw what appeared to be a white rabbit hopping away. She swerved, beginning to chase it when underneath her feet appeared a mass of writhing, muttering, hungry, vicious shadows. She took a step back, hitting a solid wall of darkness. Carved into it was the face of an insane looking woman. A manic smile marred it as the face opened its mouth and screamed _**'Cut off her head!' **_The shadows leaped at her, Alice began to scream and… The world reverted itself, the piercing sounds of the shadows turning into the ringing of the bell to begin class. Alice quickly rushed in, shaking and pale. "Oh no… that hasn't happened in years. Oh why can't you leave me alone? I'm a good girl, I am. I never swear I always apologize… I do everything right, why don't you stay away?" she whispered, looking at her shaking hands "I like my head…" she opened her scribbler, her hands still shaking and her bag sitting on the desk next to her, saving Demyx's seat for him.

As her classmates began filing in the room Alice slowly forced herself to calm down. People left her alone because she seemed relatively normal. Because her's were only just starting to come back and she keep them at bay until she was alone. Demyx walked into the classroom, taking his seat. She looked at him closely; he was shivering, as he sat down his trembling becoming more obvious. As she reached for him, hoping to give him some comfort, after so long she had begun to recognize the signs of a 'wave' a fade out that pulled a person under leaving them defenseless. They were rare but becoming more frequent as of late. As she touched Demyx's arm she felt herself be pulled under as well. She grasped her throat as she felt herself be yanked deeper and deeper through the water like substance. It was dark, so very dark and all of a sudden she landed. She turned to Demyx; in this setting he seemed much more vibrant than normal. The walls the ceiling, the floor everything was a stark white that made them stand out in contrast. She heard whispers that she wasn't sure were really there and a pulsing, pulsing over power from the bowels of the place. She let go of Demyx's arm and felt herself rushing to the surface, Demyx pushed farther under by her rising.

Alice blinked and looked over at Demyx 'How odd…' she realized 'We've never seen someone while they're under. If we're in the same room it usually either solidifies the room enough so it doesn't occur or it happens to everyone at once…' she tilted her head to the side, taking in the sitarist's expression and body language. Demyx… looked relaxed, his expression euphoric and his eyes glazed. Slowly an expression of discontent worked it's way on to his face, his posture tightening and his eyes blinking as he came out of it. "What is it Alice?" Demyx asked her, his voice hoarse as if he had been singing all night. "For that one minute you were still there… you looked so peaceful" she whispered as the teacher, Mrs. Liore began speaking "All right, everyone's passed in last night's homework so today we're starting with reading and then I'll pass out grammar worksheets for everyone to do. After that I want everyone to work on their writing portfolios. They're ten percent of your marks people!" her two assistants also known as two girls from the class who were sucking up. Jenna and Kathryn smiled as they helped her put her things down were bright and brilliant.

Alice opened her book and began reading, her ears red with suppressed anger. Did it matter that those two wouldn't know good literature if it hit them on the head and danced around wearing a 'what not to wear horror' story? Nope, they were real, pretty and popular so of course the teacher liked them while Mrs. Liore wouldn't give her the time of day in a clock shop! She took a deep breath, calming herself it wouldn't be good to lose it. 'Not today, it's a Monday. Breaking down on Wednesdays is so much better… Okay weird thought' Alice frowned slightly before turning back to her book. Demyx shook his own head, trying to rid the fuzzy feeling in his brain from his earlier 'dive' to white; he picked up his own book something had borrowed from Zexion. It was the Golden Compass, His Dark Materials volume 1 so far he was really enjoying it. The concept of daemon's fascinated him 'I wonder what mine would be…? I'll ask Zex later…' he thought to himself, mulling the idea over.

As Mrs. Liore surveyed her room she sighed. Demyx, while he wasn't interested in the subject was a decent student, if a bit rowdy. Alice on the other hand was practically a genius when it came to literature. But somehow she couldn't get through to them, whenever she tried she felt like she hit a wall that she could not traverse and that the two of them and their friends were on the other side of it. She had a feeling Alice hated her for it, she wish the blonde girl wouldn't. If things had been different somehow she knew Alice would have been one of her favorite students. Melancholy and stray thoughts wandered through the classroom, matched by the reflected light dancing off the fish tank near the window. Fifteen minutes later, Mrs. Liore called for the class to stop reading and began passing out the grammar sheets. Alice put down her book and poked Demyx to get him to do so as well, with her pencil. She wasn't risking another wave, ever again especially not in the middle of class. Nuh uh, no way. Demyx began humming to himself under his breath as he worked on his sheet. Alice recognized as one of the creepiest songs she had ever heard, Clowns by t.A.T.u. Paine was rather fond of it, obviously Demyx was too. Either that or Paine had been blasting it when she visited Zexion on Sunday and it got stuck in his head. Somehow she felt it was a combination of both. Alice sighed as she put her own pen to the paper and began writing down the answers.

* * *

Kairi and Naminé stood next to each other as the waited for Selphie, Lulu and Quistis to get out of their respective classrooms. "I don't understand why they volunteer to help out after class sis. I mean, what's the point considering?" Kairi asked her quieter more restrained sister. "Search me, I suppose they want to at least make the effort even if it doesn't pay off" Naminé shrugged as the three girls came out, Selphie's usual grin slightly diminished. Both Lulu and Quistis looked apathetic as usual. "Come on girls, Jazzy gets snippy when we're late and Tifa promised last time I saw her that she'd bring Yuffie to teach us some moves today." Kairi smirked placing her hands on her hips, already in the comfortable color guard practice uniform. "Damn, we've still got to go get changed." Selphie whined already running for the changing rooms the other two girls following her. Inside the females changing room in the gym, it was a madhouse. Paine, Rikku, and Yuna were occupying the best spot next to the lockers, Jasmine had grabbed the most spacious changing stall and Selphie was half racing Lulu and Quistis to get the remaining two. Tifa wasn't to bad about their speed but Yuffie tended to stick a bull horn in if they took more than fifteen minutes. She also kicked the door open, which knowing the sports practice schedules never tended to be that pleasant if you were slow. Yuffie didn't mean to embarrass them, she was just impatient, as they could all attest to. As could her record, with the numerous speeding and other speed related tickets she carried.

"Slowpokes, Yuffie's in an awesome mood, she convinced Leon to drive her to her favorite club. She didn't get in till half-past three and she got to sleep til noon. Plus she had what, half a ton of sugar in the form of pop and pixie sticks before coming here?" Kairi commented to Yuna who was standing next to her by the door. "Rikku tried to pull that off after the bell. Paine convinced her not to saying she wasn't explaining to Cid why she was unconscious when we brought her home. Her dad hates her going on sugar trips, says he sorta understands the why but he doesn't like dealing with the backswing." Paine shrugged "Everyone has their reasons for what they do…. Rikku has hers, it may not seem like it at times but she's hurting just as much as the rest of us." Kairi sighed looking at the arguing, gossiping, and laughing girls that surrounded them. Every one of them was in just as deep as the other which was probably why for all of there clashing personalities; they got along with each other. "True dat Kairi, you're right I just don't like seeing her do that to herself. It's perfectly fine while she's up but after…" Paine looked at her feet, melancholy. "There are times when Riku won't talk to me, completely avoids me and afterwards he has nightmares that make him scream in his sleep. Sometimes Naminé cries herself to sleep and refuses to tell me why. It's frustrating when your own hold is so tight compared to the others. I'm afraid of what will happen when even us that have such control lose ours. If we aren't… prepared by then we are royally screwed." Kairi whispered looking at the stoic, crimson-eyed young woman. The girls all paused for a moment, tilting their heads to listen.

"OH GIRLS!!" A loud female voice from the gym yelled. The girls who hadn't finished getting dressed paled, and then double-timed it, the ones who were dressed leaving the room to give them more room. "Hey Yuffie, Tifa!' Kairi smiled, waving to the two university students that ran the color guard "Kairi it's nice to see you. Paine, Yuna I suppose Rikku will be along in a moment?" Tifa asked, smiling. "Tifa, I wanna make em' do drills! HURRY UP IN THERE OR I'm COMING IN!" Yuffie shouted impatiently at the girls changing room. A muffled rushing sound was heard and the door slammed open, followed by the girls running out before forming their drill lines; Kairi, Yuna, and Paine falling in soon after. Yuffie laughed as she began running the girls through their routines with enthusiasm, Tifa correcting any mistakes they made as they went along. After an hour they began to cool down with some stretches so they wouldn't pull anything on their way home.

"So Jasmine did you do anything over the weekend?" Lulu asked "Papa took me horseback riding. He says I deserve to fell the wind run through my hair every now and again." The Arabian girl smiled peacefully at the memory, she knew she was lucky for having a guardian who accepted her distance, most of the group's parent's reactions to the self-imposed barriers between them and their children weren't exactly helpful or positive. The two girls sighed in unison for no in particular reason, more or less just an exhalation of breath. "Come on Jas, Your father's car is out front!" Tifa called from the doors of the gym. "Coming" Jasmine yelled grabbing her bag, she would take a shower when she got home she decided quickly as she bounced out the gym doors. Tifa smiled as she slung her hands behind her back, walking over to Yuffie. "Come on Ninja-girl, I've got an essay to write and you have a presentation to power-point." The crimson-eyed female laughed as she walked over to her hyper friend. The brown-eyed girl grinned, before grabbing her backpack "Tifa, why don't they let me bring my kunai on school property?" she asked the slightly older woman. "Because the government is hopelessly paranoid, we've gone over this before Yuffie…" Tifa replied as the two women walked over to the parking lot after the rest of the girls had left. "Well, I guess your right I'll pick up my stuff so we can go practice at the dojo. I plan on getting a real workout to get the week going" Yuffie pumped her arm in the air as the car drove off.

* * *

"Marly, I know you're in here and Larxene… Come out if you're here. Marluxia you can't afford to miss anymore school, you don't wanna get held back do you?" Naminé called into the large entrance room, her gaze traveling along the two large staircases leading upstairs shaking her head before dashing up the stair that led to the room that she knew contained her pink haired friend's greenhouse. It was in the wing which Axel had dubbed the sociopath wing due to the 'tendencies' of its occupants. The blonde artist prided herself on residing in the wing on the opposite side of the mansion. As she navigated the expansive corridors she considering that realistically although the mansion looked big, there was no way the outside dimension could contain what was inside. She shook her head; she probably was just misreading something. Asides from the fading that plagued the lot of them and a few incidents, the world outside themselves was what everyone else considered 'normal'.

"Oh hey Naminé, what'cha doing here?" Larxene asked blinking as she walked out of the door at the end of the hallway. "It's been about three days since we heard from you on Saturday. We have a new student at old Oblivion… and a new member" Naminé whispered the last part meeting the other blonde woman's eyes. "I know Marly needs to go back within this week or he's screwed. I'm dragging him in tomorrow. He refuses to abide by his parents wishes so… expect him to be coming here from now on. I doubt that he'll willingly go back to his parents again." Larxene snarled pacing the hallway "They'll make him you know. The school I mean, he's still underage" Naminé said silently, moving her eyes to the ground as she headed towards the room the nympho-sadist had just exited. "Don't you think I know that? Why else would I not have called anybody? I don't have a fucking clue of what to do!" she snarled at the petite artist. "Don't take your frustration out on me Larxene." Naminé said a commanding undertone in her voice.

The two reentered the greenhouse, Larxene sighing before leading her over to the area where she had left her best friend. "Marls, we have a guest!" she called out in a sing-song tone. "Oh hello Naminé it's Monday evening already?" Marluxia asked after walking out of an aisle filled with roses. "You've been working hard since I last saw you, haven't you Marluxia?" Naminé asked smiling as she looked around at the flowers and plants. "Oh… you mean this… Well yes I suppose I have." The pink haired gardener muttered, looking around. A phone rang on the wall, Naminé quickly heading over towards it and picking it up. "Hello, this is Castle Oblivion, Naminé speaking. May I ask who is…? Oh yes, hello Xenmas." Naminé gasped before greeting the university student. "You're coming back at the end of next week? But I didn't think you would get a break for another two weeks for thanksgiving! The teachers are going on strike? Well then I suppose I'll inform everyone… Superior? We have a new member, two technically but I only asked one of them to join the Organization. Yes you can meet him when you get here. I'll see you then; we're all looking forward to it." Naminé finished before hanging up the phone.

"Saix will be over here soon to work out his aggression on the lower floors correct?" she asked the other two occupants of the room who nodded "Yeah he usually shows up around six and stays over sometimes. No one wants to explain the full moon to his guardians." Larxene shrugged, shuddering at the memory of the luna-loving berserker's full moon fits as they had dubbed them. They had gotten worse over the past few years; most of them had begun to suspect that he wasn't exactly human. I mean his hair was blue and his ears were pointed like an elf's plus there were those things that they were pretty sure were fangs or something… "Well anyway I've got to call Kairi, she'll be home from practice any minute and I don't want her setting off an alarm or anything. I'm going to my studio. Larxene, Marluxia I picked up your homework for you, it's on the front table. I suggest you might want to get it out of there or when Axel comes over he might set it on fire." Naminé remarked dryly before gracefully walking out of the room, presumably to go to her much adored art studio. "Even Nami… A constant battle between a kind and sweet girl to the domineering princess who wants her people safe. We've got to pick up the pace… we're screwed." Marluxia murmured before turning back to tending his plants.

Downstairs the side door was kicked open "BOO-YAH! Yuffie is in the house!" the ninja girl laughed as she bounced in, her weapons pouch fully load and her Fuuma shuriken on her back. "Don't be do damn loud Yuffie! What if Saix was here sleeping or something? Do you want to explain to your teachers why you have a broken limb?" Tifa whispered harshly. "Well I suppose it might not be smart to come in here yelling… But nyah, I did it anyway!" Yuffie laughed, sticking her tongue out at her crimson-eyed friend. The two women laughed, continuing to tease each other as they headed for the dojo. As Yuffie set up her targets she winced as she heard Saix picking up his weapon from the storage room, he had snuck in around back she supposed. Although he wouldn't bug her or Tifa, their weapons weren't compatible with his, truthfully they were thanking god for it. "Good afternoon Saix. I didn't see you at school today, did you go today?" Tifa asked, keeping her guard up. Although she trusted everyone that knew and experienced as she did, Saix could sometimes lose it if he went under. "Hello Tifa, Yuffie I'll be on the other side of the room, no need to worry the full moon isn't for another… next week actually, Friday I believe" The blue-haired male muttered to himself, lifting his weapon over his shoulder his hair falling back to reveal pointed ears. "Well at least we won't be bored will we?" Tifa murmured as she watched Saix get ready to start with his claymore.

* * *

"Hey Roxas, so glad you could join us!" Axel smirked as Demyx and Zexion set down the bench they had 'borrowed' from the stands "I don't even want to know what you're doing, so tell me." Roxas smirked; Sora had headed home with Riku who he knew would explain the basics to his twin which meant he got to have some fun with his new friends. "Well I think Axel's using the completely abandoned lot here to burn things. He apparently has been saving up old wooden and other flammable material for weeks in yonder shed so he can have a major burnout later." Demyx said pointing to the careworn wooden building a couple of feet away. "I saw a pile of abandoned pallets behind that convenience store half a block down." Roxas told the other three boys as he sat down "How much do you got already anyway?" "We've raided the back lots of just about every tore in town. Axel still thinks he can get it bigger. We are probably breaking a million fire codes by doing this!" Demyx laughed "We'll probably be done for Halloween. Everyone goes out trick or treating, comes here for a meeting and we slowly work our way up to lighting it. We hear sirens then run like hell." Zexion said quietly as Axel went over a list of stores and lots he hadn't gone through yet and added his recent acquisitions to the pile.

"Oi Roxas, wanna help go get those fire starters you said you saw?" Axel asked, turning away from what he was doing to talk to the blue-eyed blond. Demyx had started talking music to Zexion who was half listening to the dirty blond sitarist. "Sure why not…" Roxas muttered "I hope my mom doesn't see us. She wants to send me to therapy for my 'pyromania problem' Blek!" Axel spit after putting quotations marks around the phrase Roxas guessed had been coined by his mother. "My mother is… very busy with her work. When she's around she tries so hard to be a good parent. But… that only hurts Sora because he wants so much to be normal. I gave that up because even though Sora is plenty strong, he is so innocent. I'm his big brother; I have to protect that even from our own mother." Roxas whispered staring at his feet. "I'm an only child so I've never had to worry about that. Zexion though? He tossed every hope of being normal to keep Demyx safe when he was three. Xenmas relies on him and Naminé to keep everything clean for us. Personally, I've got it kinda easy. When everything goes to shit, that's when I'm going to be required to clean up whatever tracks we've left I figure." Axel shrugged as they snuck around the back of the small store.

"So how are we getting these over to the lot?" Roxas asked the taller boy, staring at the pile of wood pallets. "See this? All stores have them to move the loads around. I borrow it for a little while and return it when I'm done. Here you take the other one, the owner will just think we're trash men or something they always do." Axel sighed shaking his head. Honestly the security that this town had was so lacking. Really Zexion made away with so much online and Yuffie' very well disguised klepto tendencies we're never noticed because they all knew how to act as if nothing was wrong therefore no one ever gave them a second glance. Why would they, they weren't real… The two stacked up the pallets, quickly sneaking out again acting completely natural as they headed back to the lot. When they re-entered the lot with their final load Demyx and Zexion had fallen into a comfortable silence. "So, do any of you read magna?" Roxas asked conversationally "FMA, Naruto, Kenshin, and Gundam Wing." Axel answered "Naminé and Rikku read shojo and are self admitted fans of the stuff." "Yeah, I mainly read shonen. Sora reads whatever he can get his hands on, shojo or shonen. He loves magna; he wants to be a magna-ka when he grows up." Roxas suppressed a chuckle. He wasn't cruel but even though his brother was good, getting a job like a writer meant being noticed by normal folk, by… real people. "Sometimes I don't want to accept it, but then I see the look on his face and I know I have to because one of us needs to be able to see things clearly, not under the shadows of wishes and 'maybe' I don't want him to lose his innocence so he can do something I'm in a more ready position to accept." Roxas whispered to himself "Life's hard Roxy. Don't worry though; you've got the Organization and the rest of us on you and your brother's side now. Even if things do get rough, which I hatefully expect they will at least you've got friends to watch your backs right?" Axel grinned at the shorter blond, his malachite green eyes crinkling. "Yeah, you're right Axel. I can't wait to meet everyone else though. No offense but if they've been around longer the older ones a probably a bit more neurotic then us I suppose?" Roxas asked raising an eyebrow. "Oh don't worry; you ain't insulting anyone with the neurotic! We all admit we're fucked in the head a bit. Well except for Cid but he's like in his late thirties and seems pretty much perfectly normal, cept' he's got a temper and is kinda impatient. That and a freaky talent with machines" Axel shrugged again "Vexen isn't that bad, he's just a little science-obsessed and Luxord just really likes gambling" Demyx murmured, half-cuddling Zexion as the temperature slowly dropped while the sun set "Never said anything's wrong with them. It's just hard and we all have our own ways of coping I suppose and it just becomes so, so easy to fall into them and never coming out." Axel whispered staring at the horizon.

* * *

"I have friends. Friends that aren't my brother. It's wonderful, I have people I can talk to who listen to me. Ones that aren't blood kin." Sora whispered to himself, sitting on his bed "Roxas should be home soon from hanging out with Axel and those guys and mom's working late. I should get to work on my homework; I'll put it off and not do it if I don't do it soon." Sora sighed pulling out his backpack and setting his work on the desk. "Why is schoolwork so boring?" the brunet boy asked the air. As he slowly trudged through the math questions he felt a tingle working its way up his spin. Sora sat up, straight backed with his eyes wide. "No don't fall… come back come back. I'm alone, where's my brother, my friends….." he whispered as his eyes closed already clouded over and he collapsed backwards onto his bed. From above the petit boy looked as if he was sleeping although he started to toss and turn as the nightmares started. This is what his older brother came home to when he pooped his head inside to check on Sora.

"Damnit, I was hoping these would stay away for a little while, just so we could get settled in first. Can't say I'm not surprised, the shock of moving is probably helping induce them. Change tends to do that…" Roxas muttered, looking at his younger brother making sure there was nothing he would accidentally smother himself in while he slept. "They always pop up at the most inconvenient times… How long before our lives become endangered by them?" the blond boy asked the silent room "Well I'll go start dinner, mom's busy tonight… Maybe I should have checked with one of the guys to see if they wanted to come over for supper. It be nice to talk to someone while Sora's sleeping." Roxas mused, quietly closing the door. Roxas browsed through the kitchen trying to figure out what to eat for supper. "Pizza would be good" He said out loud looking inside the freezer. He took the box and laid it on the counter, moving over the oven to preheat the oven to the desired temperature. "I'm so bored… I wonder what's on TV" Roxas mused looking around the kitchen again. The blond boy sat down on the couch flipping through the channels absent-mindly, quietly listening for sounds of his brother waking. When the oven pinged to say it was up to temperature Roxas heard shifting noises from downstairs. Assured that Sora would do his homework and then come upstairs for supper he stood up and put the pizza in the oven.

Downstairs Sora had settled back into what he had been doing before he fell asleep. As he worked on his homework he sang softly to himself "_Wish away all that you know, truth be told and lies to keep. Heart be strong and heart be weak" _As the lyrics fell from his lips like the words flowed from his pencil the smell of pizza began to waft through the house. Stopping for a moment, breathing in deeply to allow the scent to register Sora stretched to readjust his muscles. Looking over the work he had done in the past half hour Sora smiled serenely, getting up to grab one of his portable game systems, the pizza wouldn't be done for another half hour yet so he figured he'd try to get farther on his Pokémon Pearl game. He was just stuck really badly where he was, the game had died last time and now he had to get back to the town again! He sighed as he turned on his DS, he was really bored. "I should have accepted Riku's offer to go hang out at the mansion that place sound awesome…" he muttered clicking his way through the opening scenes. The usually happy brunet became quickly absorbed into his game and the time passed quickly before the beep from the oven was heard. Sora blinked than saved his game and headed upstairs.

"Oi big bro did I hear the oven beep? By the way what kinda pizza did you put in? I hope its deli lover's!" Sora yelled as he took the stairs to the main floor two at a time. "Sora if I know you, which I do I would guess you're half hopping up the stairs. Stop before you get hurt! Yes its deli lover's by the way…" Roxas sighed as he pulled the pizza out of the oven and placed it on the cooling rack. Sora walked into the kitchen a few moments later, pausing to stare at the hot pizza before sitting down at the table and waiting for it to cool. "So do you get along with Axel's other friends? And did you hear anything about the… group? It sounds interesting to me. Riku said that the Organization wing was taking you in or at least planning to…" Sora trailed off, sipping at his root beer. "Yeah… Axel and Naminé introduced me to the idea on Sunday and their friends are really nice. I think we're going to like it here brother, these people… they understand and that is so much better than I even imagined it to be. And something's coming; we all need to be ready for it I think. I believe that's probably what's making them more frequent…" Roxas trailed off as he grabbed plates from the cupboards and laid them on the counter. "Don't be pessimistic Roxas, talk of happier things… Like the possibility of kicking your friend's asses on Soul Caliber 2 at some point!" Sora laughed putting his root beer down. "Your right I guess Sora… Now let's eat before the pizza starts getting cold!" the dirty blond boy grinned as he began to cut the pizza into slices. Sora began eating; conversing quietly with his brother between bites "I suppose this year you won't end up head first in a trashcan. Even if they try there's more people to help you stop them right?" "Oh do you have to bring that up now? I was starting to repress!" Sora mock whined at his older twin "That only works on mom and she isn't here. Second of all you don't repress anything, ever Sora" Roxas said a mock serious look in his eyes as he ate. "Well Most of my homework's done, the stuff due tomorrow is anyway. What bout you Roxas?" Sora asked swallowing "I did mine while the pizza cooked. I'll finish it after supper." Roxas replied waving his hand.

* * *

"I see what I see and I know what I know, don't forsake that knowledge Superior. This is the beginning where everything could have fallen apart with everyone on opposing sides and war against the darkness that would never end. These boys are the key. A long battle is ahead of us, I know that much but at the end is a place where we belong. Yes I'm sure, this Princess wouldn't lie and you know to trust me and what appears in the white sketchbook. It hasn't lied, ever." Naminé shrugged adjusting her position. "If it isn't important or true the lines do not form, we proved this ages back when the tricks started to fall into existance. By the way I do have an update. If Axel get's angry enough, stuff he's no where's close to goes up in flames. When you get back we have to see about controlling this. What if something goes wrong in public?" the pale girl paused for a minute obviously listening to the person on the other side of the phone "No I am not neurotic Xenmas!" she fumed after a few seconds. She sighed "Sorry it's just been a long day… stupid bitch cheerleaders. We're going to end up giving half of the female member's sugar interventions in a month you know that right? Rikku got sugar-drunk for the fifth time in the past two weeks. Paine is really worried about her. Not to mention that I swear those people are planning something, I just don't know what yet. They're keeping it extremely hush-hush which is the smartest thing they've ever done really." The blonde girl shook her head. The rotating light in her room cast by a lamp on her bedside table giving the room an odd and eerie feeling, she softly began speaking again. "This is so much beyond what was planned in the beginning. I've compared the original plan to what we have now… It's almost unrecognizable. We've had to make sacrifices I understand but there are things we are capable of doing now that scare me. How long before my ability to cast memory and future on to a sketchbook turns into something darkly deeper? How long before Axel can do more than simply influence the fire around him. When does Demyx's voice become as controlling of the water as a siren's? What happens when Alice snaps and her wonderland starts leaving prints? What if it's too late before we get away? Next meeting… I'm advising clepping out of as many course as possible and start using distance education on our computer system to finish our schooling. If we aren't limited it will go along faster. We have at most a year… but I wouldn't count on it. Xenmas I hate to do this but you and everybody else that's there have to get back here as soon as possible. Plead sabbatical or something! Me and Zexion can keep us afloat for two three months tops before everything gets shot to hell. I have no clue what they've got on us or anything like that but it's big and it's bad. This could stagnate our information ring and then we'd start finding ourselves face down in a river." Naminé shuddered "No I am not exaggerating. These people get snippy if someone in town has a different religion than the majority how do you think they would react if we couldn't stop the leaks about ourselves from falling through? They'd put it together and we'd get lynched!" she screamed into the phone, tears running down her cheeks. "The names these places have don't belong, like they're waiting to drift away with us. Cause you know what? That's what we're waiting to do Xenmas, we're waiting til its okay to cut loose our strings and float away. That's all and that's it, the stairs are descending and we have to be on them when they go up." She fell silent for a few moments before speaking up again "Whatever it is sir, its coming and if we aren't prepared a worse fate then death awaits us." Naminé was silent as the Superior attempted to reassure her before the two of them said good-bye and hung up the phone.

"We're all that's left and that's too bad. We're all that's left and that's so sad. All the dreamers and the non-believers, say good bye to the pretty little star children, say good-bye to those who lurk in shadows cry. Say bye-bye, we're all that's left" Naminé sang to herself, curling up on her bed her voice bitter and sarcastic; tainted by her earlier conversation. She got up, putting away her things, her fingers trailing over her last birthday card, which all of the Organization members had signed '_Heaven's lost an angel, cause they sent you down to take care of us!' _She remembered how much everyone had laughed that day, Demyx, Rikku and Axel had eaten so much cake they were sick. She also remembered Paine and Zexion's expression afterwards, the two cousins were more alike then they thought, the expressions on their faces were identical. "I hope the two of you will have good memories here too, before everything goes to hell, right? Sora? Roxas?" Naminé smiled wistfully, looking at the row of Kodak pictures Axel and her had taken of the twins. The blonde girl heard a subtle knock on the door and nodded her head knowing it was simply her sister letting her know that she was heading to bed. Kairi's room was in direct opposition to her own; colorful, bright and noisy in contrast to the pale, quiet, pastel-like serenity of her room. Naminé quietly turned her lights down till it was almost down to nothing and crawled into her read, lying down and staring at the ceiling, watching the patterns of ceiling tiles form, her eyes slowly closing around the pictures of grinning monsters, crying angels, and whispers, whispers upon the dark night time sea.

* * *

"I wonder why this is, this shallow half-existance. I sit and wonder why, why I even try. To live each day, among these fragile people." Axel sat muttering to himself in a singsong voice. The lighter in his hand looked to be on its last flicker and he glared at it, this would be the third one in a month, yes he had at least a hundred more but it annoyed him. "Why do you putter out, you should be stronger than that…" He paused in his musings as he heard motion on the floor below him, his parents had arrived home at last he thought sarcastically. Not like they really cared to tell the truth, he wasn't like them their sub-conscious probably asked them why he cared like his asked why he didn't just burn this place and run. What made him let loose a bitter laugh was that what stopped them was probably the same platitude for different reasons. 'What would people think?' them for their superficial image, him for his and his friend's lives. "Stupid human nature, sometimes I thank god we aren't normal." Axel chuckled mirthlessly. The red-headed teen grabbed his lighters and tossed them inside a non-descript wood drawer, shutting it tight and getting back into his chair where he was reading one of his favorite manga's _Bleach. _He half noticed his mother popping her head in to check on him before heading the rest of the way down the hall to her room. He sighed softly, putting the book down. He did enjoy but tonight he simply wasn't in the mood. If Axel was anywhere else he would have lit something up to relive the tension but his mother would start screeching at him if she even smelled smoke.

"That's it" he muttered "tomorrow I'm packing my crap up and I'm going to the mansion. No one will notice. I'm there enough that everyone will just keep think that I simply left after them. No one who matters will care and the ones that do matter won't care." Axel paced around the room shoving some clothes and other things into a large black bag. "It'll take awhile dammit but I'll pull it off…" he muttered looking through his things considering what to take. "Just a few days and I can empty this place out… Less if I tell someone and get help. Doubt that's an option though." Axel sneered, privately hating his situation "I'll talk to Roxie, his mom seems nice… Course to him it probably makes things worse. Heck I hate what I'm stuck in but at least I know my folks don't really care if I up and disappear. He'd get the getting out thing… I think." Axel shook his head "I'll see what I can do by myself first anyway…" Axel sat down again, glaring at the night sky, his expression slowly softening into an unaware bliss.

Four large buckets were standing in a row across the street, Axel hummed to himself as he stared at them, unknown to anyone the buckets inside temperature began to skyrocket. As Axel apparently reached the end of the first chorus of the song he was humming, he distractedly pointed at one of the buckets. It promptly caught on fire and Axel's facial expression relaxed further, as if it were drifting into sleep. Over and over again this was repeated until all four buckets were on fire and Axel passed out into sleep. Meanwhile outside of the house, the neighborhood was working its way into a panic over the flaming buckets. The noises they had each made when catching on fire had been quite loud. As the firemen were called, neighbors gathered and gossiped, Mr and Mrs. Harada had descended outside in a panic, fearing that the noises had been gunshots "What on earth happened?" Mrs. Harada half shrieked looking the chaos surrounding the garbage cans. "We don't know the fire department is coming to see if it was set. The fire's too hot for us to get close to right now." One of the neighbours explained. "Well for once it couldn't have been my boy, he was in his room. When we came down here he was asleep." Mr Harada shook his head. The people around them all sighed. The young Harada boy had been their first suspicion, but considering the apparent pride he held when he set something, if he was asleep it most likely wasn't him. As the firemen arrived and put the flames out what was left was baffling. All of the cans were empty, there were no signs except for the heat of the cans and slight ash marks along the side that would prove they had even been on fire. "It's like the air spontaneously combusted…" One of the firefighters marveled "From witness reports, it sounds like that's what happened. No one could have set it and there are reports of loud noises being heard when the trash cans assumedly caught fire. Mark it off as a fluke but be on the lookout. This is very strange…" the chief muttered walking off. "Well he's right, no one was hurt so let's move along most of us have to work tomorrow!" One of the men called out, putting an arm around his wife's shoulders. After this people slowly began wandering back to there houses, no one quite wanting to give up on the gossip yet. After all things like this didn't happen in towns like this right?

* * *

"Destiny is such a silly thing, my dear friends… We are trapped inside its wishes none the less though am I not right? Our Princess has found what she suspects to be the last of us. I fear we do not have much time left. We must prepare. Vexen you said they wanted you to patent that explosive you invented correct? Do it, the money will be useful and it will allow dear Zexion to get into a militia computer system. Having that kind of control will be a good thing if things… slip." Xenmas shook his head "What do you think people the resources that military has could do to people like us? The tricks… I shudder to think of what could happen if they found out." The silver-haired man paced the room talking to his two roommates, Xigbar and Vexen. "Do not be too hasty, I trust our princess but we must be careful not to give ourselves away" Vexen said coldly, his eyes sharp "Watch how you speak. I know of your desire to make yourself acknowledged by those who do not see. But we must step carefully, your path is lined by quick sand and one wrong move will pull us all under." Xenmas warned meeting the future scientist's cool stare. "I shall not be that foolish Superior, I wouldn't endanger us like that no matter my personal desires!" he snarled, pacing the room.

"I know you wouldn't Vexen, but these people they can turn a nothing to something and drag it all down around our ears. I understand the desire for acknowledgement but still it is best to act as nothing but white noise on their senses, even if it hurts us. Would you want the government experimenting on Demyx or our Princess?" Xenmas crooned. "You know that I don't. Naminé can defend herself to an extent and we could sneak her out if something happened but… if Demyx got taken Zexion's rationality goes down the drain and we're faced with all out war. I'm not an idiot, Superior." Vexen hissed at the older male who was circling him.

"Of course. You are hardly an idiot, Chilly Academic. The desire for acceptance is both truth and façade. We both know this even if you deny it. But no denial, Vexen, can hide the truth of this. We return to the Castle in a week. Whether anyone here like's it or not." Xenmas stated walking out of the room. "He's worse than we thought. I told you not getting laid on a bi-weekly basis made the changes quicker in his case. You owe me twenty bucks." Xigbar said, peaking up. "And if he's like this what about Mr. Luna Diviner?" Vexen muttered. The two university students shuddered in unison. "Come on; let's go tell the Silent Hero and Gambler of Fate what's up. I'll tell Xaldin later, Lexeaus and Luxord share absolutely no classes with us."

_Did you ever feel  
Sunlight on your face?  
Did you ever breathe hope?  
Did you ever  
Dance with grace?  
Did you ever feel  
Sunlight on your face?  
Did you ever truly live..._

* * *

_Well yeah... There's chapter two for ya._

_It'll be awhile before I update again, so please read & review._

_Later! Lithium_


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